


The collector

by NYWCgirl



Category: White Collar
Genre: Age Play, Angst, BDSM, Breathplay, F/M, Human Trafficking, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Pet Play, Pony Play, Sexual Slavery, Threats of Rape/Non-Con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-16 00:33:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 22
Words: 39,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3467774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYWCgirl/pseuds/NYWCgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A person is on route to the States on a medical emergency. What happened? Who is he? Where is he going?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for Prompfest IX. The prompt was collector. 
> 
>  
> 
> UPDATE 10/4/2015: For the April challenge of the H/C bingo, I am writing a crossover between White Collar/The blacklist. It will be a sequel to the collector, but nothing explicit, I guess.  
> But since this is my first cross over and I am not really 100% up to date on the blacklist characters. Is there someone interested in beta reading it for me? I am now up tot 1400 words, and it needs to be finsihed by the end of April, so that is a thight deadline... Anyone up to the challenge?

 

First came feeling… a roaring sensation, vibrating through his body, then hearing. He heard distant voices talking, casually, non threatening. He also heard a beeping sound, that sounded familiar, but he was not sure where he had heard it before. Then he felt something on his face, but he could breath, so it didn´t worry him, his mind and body too drugged to care. In his hand he felt something strange, like a pinch, and a bandage, an IV maybe?Had he been in an accident? He couldn´t remember. But with the return of his senses, he involuntarily moved, which alerted somebody sitting next to him.

A calm voice told him to relax, he felt a warmth in his arm, spreading and everything went black again.

As the patient next to him moved, the nurse took out a sedative and injected it in the IV line. As his patient was badly hurt and they were mid-air somewhere in between Europe and the States, he was told to keep the patient on a mild sedation so he wouldn´t get agitated during his flight back home.

He was told his patient was in a car-accident while visiting Europe on a business trip and had to be brought home to the States. Where home was for this poor chap, he didn´t know, all he was told was that the patient would be flown into Newark Liberty airport. And that an ambulance and medical team would be on stand-by.

When he looked over some time later, he saw two blue eyes staring at him, they were glazed over and probably not really seeing anything. He knew the patient was still out of it and that opening his eyes was just a reflex. To prevent the patient´s eyes from getting dry, he closed them again. And they remained closed.

When they started descending into Newark, he checked all vitals, but his patient was still out and everything seemed OK, he finalized his paperwork, so he could transfer his patient to the team waiting for them. He still found it odd that the patient was assumed to be badly hurt, but didn´t really have any visible injuries, as far as he could see it, some bruising and scrapes, but noting that looked life threatening, the paperwork said that the patient suffered internal injuries and a severe concussion.

Once the plane had landed, they waited for the other passengers to leave the plane. He saw a medical team entering the back of the plane with a gurney and medical bags, so his job was finished once they finalized the paperwork.

* * *

The first thing he noticed, is that it was chilly and that he felt fresh air or wind on his skin, a few raindrops and then the underground went all wobbly, which made him nauseous, the people around him must have noticed, because he was carefully turned to his side, so he could vomit. He felt someone cleaning his face after he was turned on his back again.

He heard someone calling Nick, but his brain was too drugged up to notice that the person was addressing him. Also he didn´t get what they were saying, and he was so tired, he just wanted to go back to sleep.

Suddenly the underground he was lying on started to move, which made the nausea come back, but for some reason everything went black again.

 


	2. La Sorbonne

Dominique Steinberg was enjoying his morning coffee at a local café in the Quartier Sorbonne. He was watching the students make their way to the university.

Nobody would have guessed that the man that was sipping his coffee with a pain au chocolat was one of the world´s most infamous human traffickers. He would come over to the café and look at the boys and girls and make check them out if any would match his customers requests.

Most of the time, he would get them out of countries that wouldn´t make a big deal out of youth disappearing, but he had customers that preferred more educated pets. That is why he liked this quartier, it was filled with students.

Today was a slow day and he didn´t see anything he fancied, so he was just about to close shop, when his eye was drawn to a man walking towards the university.

He was too old to be a student, probably more a teacher, although by his looks, he could be a model for the art students.

Interesting. Dominique quickly paid his breakfast and followed the man. When he entered the university grounds, he knew he was right, the man worked here. He kept on his tail and watched him enter the arts building. When he entered one of the aulas and walked to the front and shrugged his coat, Dominique quickly sat down in the back of the aula, and observed.

 

When Dominique sat at his desk that night, strolling through the new orders on his computer, he just knew he wanted this guy. He couldn´t pinpoint why, but he just knew. He would go back tomorrow and find out more about the man. Before making his move, he needed details.

 

* * *

 

Over the next couple of weeks, Dominique followed Nicolas Hardy, he had learned the man´s name, found out he was a teacher in art history at the Sorbonne. He now knew the man´s routine, what his class schedule was, that he went swimming every Tuesday and Friday. That he liked his croissants from the boutique Boulanger at the corner of Rue Saint-Jacques and that he spent most meals alone.

The most interesting thing he had found out was that he didn´t seem to have any family or friends. Oh sure, Nicolas went out on dates, with men and women, even better, that would make him more valuable on the market, but he didn´t have anyone that would really miss him.

Dominique had been monitoring the requests that his clients made, but there was no particular request for a man like Hardy, but he knew someone in the States that would pay good money for unique pets, and Hardy, was definitely unique with his good looks.

 

That night, he called his contact.

“Taylor, it is been too long, since we talked.”

“ _To what do I owe the pleasure?”_

“I may have found you a new pet, he is not really young like you like them, but still, I have a feeling you will be interested.”

“ _Girl or boy?”_

“Male.”

“ _Description?”_

“182 centimeters, brown hair, blue eyes, lean, muscular.”

“ _How much is that in inches?”_

“He is 5 feet 11 ½ inches.”

“ _Not too tall, I´m interested. How old is he?”_

“As far as I can tell, he is 35, I know, it is a little old, but I promise you, he looks stunning.”

“ _OK, you have me intrigued, bring him in_. _Payment will be taken care of as usual.”_

“Nice doing business with you.”

Taylor disconnected the line and Dominique walked to his desk to get another phone.

“You can pick the target up, you know what to do?”

Dominique waited for the affirmation and disconnected the call. His men knew what to do, they had done it dozens of times. Nicolas Hardy would vanish from the face of the earth with the next couple of hours.

 

_To be continued..._


	3. Chapter 3

Nicolas Hardy was walking towards the University. He felt good, he enjoyed the life he had built for himself. He had landed a job as an art history teacher eight months ago and truly loved his job. He liked working with the students and enjoyed living in Paris. He had been a bit of an adaptation when he first arrived in Paris and missed his old live in New York, he really missed Neal Caffrey, but now, he liked his apartment, his new habits, his original paintings which were hanging in a small but prestigious gallery. He was enjoying his life after so many years having been lived.

However, the last couple of weeks, he had a distinct feeling that he was being watched. He was careful and tried to expose his tail, but always came up empty handed. But his gut feeling told him someone was watching him.

In those moments, he missed Mozzie and Peter. He could be sure they had his back, now he was all alone.

When he was walking back from university, he decided to have a quick stop home, to freshen up and get dressed, before going on a dinner date with a fellow teacher.

He took the metro back home, got dressed and made his way over to the restaurant where they would meet. When he entered the restaurant, his dinner date was already waiting for him.

“Bonsoir Louise, comment allez-vous?”

“Bonsoir Nicolas, you know that my French is not that good, can we please speak English?”

“Bien sur, sorry, of course, we can.”

Louise was an exchange teacher, and because they worked on a different campus, they didn´t see each other that much. They had met on a get together at the beginning of the academic year. Louise came from Canada and was in Paris for one year.

Nicolas and Louise spent a lovely evening and he walked her back to her apartment, to make sure she was safe. He started walking back home and again had a vague sense that something was off, he backtracked his way back to his home, but couldn´t see anybody that was suspicious. When he finally made it home, he was glad he could lock the door behind him. He walked over to his fridge and pulled out the already open bottle of red. He took it out and poured some in a glass to let it breathe while he was getting ready for bed.

When he came out of the bathroom, he strolled over to the table while looking outside. There were no suspicious looking vehicles outside, so he grabbed his tablet and his glass of wine and settled into the couch, checking his emails.

When he finished his wine, he felt sleeping, but it had been a long week, so he decided to go to bed. Getting up however, made him dizzy. But before he could think anything of it, he lost consciousness and slumped back on the couch.

 

* * *

 

Gérard had been waiting outside the building for about an hour, he checked the camera he had placed in this Hardy´s guy´s apartment and he could see the sedative taking effect.

“François, you get the equipment out of the apartment and you sweep for fingerprints. Tom, you and Pièrre get the subject out. We gather at the meeting point in two hours” Tom looked at his crew and knew he could trust them to carry out their jobs, so he left them.

His men were all dressed as EMT´s so they could gain access to the house without suspicion, they had done it multiple times before, there was no better way to subtract a person than dressed as an EMT, nobody ever looks at the orderlies because everybody is focused on the victim.

 

* * *

 

Two hours later, they all gathered in one of the warehouses Gérard rented. He walked over to the ambulance and jumped in. Their subject was out cold and neatly packed up in a blanket, secured to the gurney.

“Thank you guys, payment will be done in the regular way, and I will call you when I need you. Good job gentlemen.”

The men all left and Gérard looked down on Nicolas Hardy. He had to make sure that the real EMT´s who had to transport the subject to the United States didn´t ask to many questions, so he had to make sure Nicolas looked like he had been in a car crash.

 

When he was done, Gérard went to change into an EMT uniform himself, he then filled a syringe with a powerful sedative and injected it. Nicolas wouldn´t wake up, until they wanted him to. He checked his watch and saw he had to hurry. He got in the front of the ambulance and drove to Charles the Gaulle airport.

 

* * *

 

“Patient for repatriation to the United States.” Gérard said to the security guard at the one of the gates of to the airport..

“You have all the paperwork?”

“Yes, want to see it?”

“No, but you will need it when Customs comes to check it before you enter the airplane. You are expected in slot E23” the guard said while checking his papers.

“Yes, sure, no problem, I have them all here.” Gérard gave a wave to the guard and drove to slot E23, where a Boeing 747 was made ready for departure.

When he got out, a medic descended out of the plane.

“Hi, I´m Frederic and I will be accompanying mister…”

“Blanchard, the patient´s name is Roger Blanchard. I have his paperwork here. I understood from his doctor that he is sedated, but I guess that is also all in the paperwork.” Gérard eyed Frederic, but Frederic was just checking the paperwork, not giving any signs that he suspected anything.

“OK, thanks, if you will help me get him safely on board, I will sign off on the paperwork.” Frederic walked back to the plane, to start the elevator that was placed next to the door.

Gérard opened the ambulance to unload their patient and together, both men made sure Roger Blanchard was settled in quietly before the cabin crew started boarding the passengers. The purser and a cabin crew member came over to Frederic to see if there were things they needed to know, but Frederic told them that he had everything under control and so they left the three men alone.

Frederic signed off on the paperwork and the two medics said goodbye to eachother.

 

 

_To be continued…_


	4. The arrival

Taylor Bonamis got the call on a Wednesday morning. He was having breakfast and reading the newspaper when he answered the call.

“Good morning Taylor, your package has arrived. It is en route to you as we speak, you can expect him within two hours.”

‘Thank you, I will contact you when I inspected the goods.” Taylor walked up to the windows of his penthouse and looked down on the world beneath him. He needed to get things in action, his new pet would arrive within two hours. He could feel the excitement coursing through his body. A new pet always did that to him. He had been a while that he had a new pet, as he got bored quickly and normally sold them off. But Dominique had promised that he would be impressed, and he had always come through on his deals, he trusted the man´s judgment.

He called his trainer in, to tell him the newest addition to his stable was arriving and to make everything ready.

 

When the trainer entered his office two hours later, Taylor looked up.

“Mister Bonamis, the security guard just called to tell that the van arrived, will you meet us downstairs or do I bring him to the room?”

“I will come down with you, let´s see what Dominique sent us.” Taylor got up and walked with the trainer to the dedicated elevator. With the businesses Taylor was involved in, he couldn´t afford neighbors to see what he did. His parking garage was dedicated and from the garage, there was an elevator to the penthouse, which was only accessible with a special code.

When they arrived at the parking garage, his men were already unloading the gurney. When he walked up, he could see that Dominique hadn´t lied. Even though unconscious, the man was gorgeous; he would make a nice addition to his pets.

“You know what to do. I want the new collar that I had made, on him as soon as possible. Come and get me when he is ready.” With that Taylor turned and walked back to the elevator.

 

* * *

 

“Mister Taylor, your pet is waking; do you want to be there?”

“Yes, thank you, Eric.”

Taylor got up and walked towards his ´treatment room´. When Taylor entered, Eric stood by the table where all sorts of medical supplies were on display. He picked up a syringe, probably something to counter the side effects of being so long under sedation. Taylor didn´t want his pets uncomfortable, unless he himself wanted them to be.

“I see you already placed the collar on him, good.” He walked over to the man who was showing signs of fighting the sedation and trying to wake up. He gently caressed his restrained arm.

“It´s OK, you are fine. Eric here is going to give you something to wake a bit more.”

“huhh?” the man tried to open his eyes and only got them open partially, but they were the bluest Taylor had ever seen.

“Shhhhh, you will be fine, just rest, you will be more awake when you wake up the next time.”

Taylor could see the man slip back into a dreamless sleep. Frederic had come through, this was a gorgeous specimen. With his finger, he traced the collar around the man´s neck.

“Take care of him, Eric. I want him in top condition. Let me know when he wakes again;”

 

* * *

 

Neal had a vague sense of movement. He had the distinct impression that he had felt it before, but he wasn´t really sure. He felt a bit nauseated when the movement became fast, it felt like going up in an fast elevator. Again the wobbling sensation of being moved and then there were bright lights and the movement stopped. Someone must have noticed that the lights were bothering him, because they were dimmed and he felt marginally better. He could feel someone putting something around his neck, but he was too weak to lift his hands to stop the person. He could hear the person, well it was a man by the tone of the voice, talking in a soothing tone. Then there was a pinch in his arm and he knew he didn´t want that, but he felt tired and let himself be pulled back into the blackness.

 

The next time he was aware of movement in the room. He tried to open his eyes, but they felt weighed down and he could only open them partially. He heard talking but couldn´t make out the words. He did his best to understand them, and this must have been noticed by the person standing next to him, because he could feel a gently caress on his arm.

He tried to ask where he was, but more than a grunt didn´t leave his mouth.

The man standing next to him answered something, but he couldn´t make out the words, they did however sound comforting and he let himself be pulled back under.

 

* * *

 

The next time he woke, he had been placed on something soft, it was really soft and Neal nuzzled whatever he was on, until he felt a pull around his neck. He shook his head to get rid of the cobwebs, but only managed to make himself dizzy, so he kept still.

“Are you back with us?” a male voice questioned.

“I guess.” Neal croaked. The man came closer and held a glass with a bendy straw in front of him. Neal pulled back, not knowing what was in the glass. The man chuckled.

“It is just water.”

When Neal wanted to reach for it, the man withdrew the glass.

“Just drink, you must be thirsty. Don´t use your hands, I will hold the glass. Eric gave you an IV to replenish your electrolytes, but I guess your throat is still dry.”

Neal hesitantly drank from the straw, his thoughts going a mile a minute. Why wasn´t he allowed to use his hands? Was there something wrong with his hands? Where was he, who was this guy? He was interrupted when he realized the man had called out to him.

“I see you are wondering where you are. You are mine know, pet. I owe you. I had you brought to me.”

“I´m sorry? You brought me here? Where is here? Who are you?”

The man started showing signs of getting annoyed.

“I will forgive you for asking me questions, I know this is new to you, but my pets only speak when spoken to. Next time, I will punish you. You don´t talk, period.”

Neal realized this wasn´t good, he was kidnapped by some psychopath. This was definitely not OK, he had to get out of here. But the more he got worked up, the mellower his thoughts became.

“I see you´re experiencing the collar. You see pet, I have done this before, and I have broken in bigger guys than you. The collar you are wearing scans your biometry. When your heart rate increases, it doses drugs to calm you down. It has some other features, but I don´t want to spoil it all at once. Rest, we have all the time in the world.”

 

_To be continued…_


	5. The trainer

Rest – How could Neal rest, now that he knew he was wearing a total stranger´s collar who was calling him pet? A collar with features nonetheless.

One time, he had wanted to wear Peter´s collar, but Peter and he had never evolved into that kind of relationship. He had worn Vincent´s and Kate´s collar. But they had been his doms by choice. Well, Vincent was a means to a goal, but Kate had been the real deal.

But he hadn´t shown his preferences for years, so this guy must have just wanted him, the thought was more than disturbing. This man was not looking for a sub, he wanted a pet, Neal wasn´t interested in a 24/7 deal.

He was called out of his memories, when someone entered the room.

“Pet, let´s go, you need to be bathed before you can have something to eat and drink.”

“Can you please, tell me….ow!” Neal yelped. The man had given him a swift spank with a crop on his buttocks. It hurt, not bad, but it stung.

“What did Master tell you? You can answer.”

“No talking.”

“Remember that, we will give you permission to speak when needed, otherwise, we don´t hear a kick out of you.”

The trainer attached a leash on his collar and Neal felt really humiliated. He was lead towards a large bathroom, where a boy and a girl were awaiting him.

“Get in the bathtub, they will wash and groom you to Master´s whishes.”

Neal wanted to say something, but when he saw the expecting look on the man´s face, he rethought that action. Maybe it was wise to go with the flow for now. It wasn´t that he was shy, prison had taken care of that, but he didn´t want to be bathed by two other slaves. The slaves looked well cared for, they didnt seemed to be physically hurt, but emotional, Neal was not so sure. He didn´t want to find out what would happen if he didn´t go into the bathtub, he got in. The girl immediately guided him in between the two of them. The boy adjusted the water temperature, so it was nicely hot, but not too.

They washed his hair and groomed his body hair, although Neal had always been meticulously about his grooming, but he didn´t know how long they had him already or what ´Master´ preferred. Nobody spoke through the whole experience, when he was let out of the tub and dried and some expensive body lotion was rubbed on his body, he wanted to ask the girl what was happening, but as soon as he wanted to open his mouth, a new sting on his ass, made him turn, it was the trainer, Neal hadn´t heard him coming back in.

“What did I tell you?”

Neal looked down and tried to take on a submissive posture.

“That is a good boy, you see, if you do as you are told, life can be very good.”

In the mean time the boy had come back into the bathroom with some white garments.

“Put on the clothes and join us in the dining room.” The trainer turned around and walked out.

Neal got dressed in the white cotton draw string pants and white tank top and walked out of the bathroom. The boy and girl vanished in one of the other room of this immense penthouse. Neal followed his nose as he felt his stomach growl when he smelled food. But he couldn´t remember the last time he ate. Now that he thought about it, he had to have been dinner with Louise.

He entered the dining room and saw the man who was called Master sit at a long dining table. Next to his chair was a cushion on the ground. The man flicked his fingers and pointed at the cushion, but Neal didn´t kneel immediately which caused the man to get up and grab his collar.

“Do you think it is wise to defy me, pet?”

“My name is Nicolas. Not pet” Neal said starring defiantly back.

“Eric!” The man dragged Neal towards the door, where Eric waited for them. Neal started to struggle, but that only resulted in being dragged to the ground by his collar. Eric gave Master a crop and Neal was whipped thoroughly. When his collar was released, he felt off, not realizing it were the drugs that been administered by the collar.

The trainer attached a leash to the collar and pulled Neal back to his feet and walked him to the pet room. When Neal walked through the door, he instinctively took a step back. Inside the room was a cage. The trained opened the door and pulled Neal with more force inside.

“Kneel!”

Feeling woozy, Neal did what he was told and the leash was detached from the collar. The trainer closed the door and stepped back.

“No dinner for you, pet. See you in the morning, think about your behavior.” And with that said, he left the room, flicking out the light.

Neal sat heavily down on the floor, only now noticing that there was a velvety blanket in the corner of the cage. There was a bottle of water attached to the cage side, which reminded Neal of a hamster drinking bottle. Although he was thirsty; he wasn´t planning on degrading himself by trying to drink from the contraption.

His backside hurt, so he lay down on the blanket which was soft and dozed off, the drugs in his system probably having something to do with that.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Neal was woken, by the trainer entering the room and turning on the light. Neal blearily blinked at the man who ordered him out of the cage.

“Can you behave this morning?”

When Neal didn´t react to the man, he just left. Neal was still wondering what would happen next, when he entered again with a syringe. Neal backed off to the far side of the cage, but his heart rate had increased by the site of the syringe and he could feel the drugs making him more relaxed.

The trained put aside the syringe and opened the door to the cage, walking in, and attached that damn leash again. Neal made a weak defensive gesture, but was pulled in a kneeling position.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way, your choice. Nod if you are going to be a good boy.”

Neal just stayed still. The trainer came back with what looked like carabiners, he attached them to the wrist and ankle restraints Neal was wearing. He only just noticed them.

Neal was confused, he hadn´t realized that he was wearing them. When were they placed on him? What was wrong with him?

Now that he was in a kneeling position with his wrists attached to his ankles, he couldn´t go anywhere. Trainer petted him on the head and got the syringe. His head was pulled to the side and Neal felt the syringe enter one of the veins in his neck and almost immediately warmth spreading through his body.

“Good boy.” Trainer said. Neal leaned into his touch.

He was left alone in the cage and a couple of minutes later, Master came in.

“I heard you were a naughty boy, but that you that you will be good now.” He was again petted and stroked and Neal enjoyed the feeling. He was happy and warm. He felt the restraints being loosened and he felt the tug on his collar, so he followed his master into the dining room. He was told to kneel and Neal did as he was told, which brought him more praises and petting. He hummed his pleasure.

“Eat pet.”

Neal looked up to master and saw a piece of croissant but when he reached for it, the sting of a crop on his fingers. Although Neal should have felt offended, he didn´t. He felt relaxed and happy.

“I provide everything you need, pet. Now eat.”

 

_To be continued…_


	6. Class in session

Neal tried to keep count of the number of days that had passed, but soon realized that his memory wasn´t always as clear as he wanted it to be. The drugs that were dispersed by the collar and especially the drugs that were administered by the trainer, made his memory faulty.

He had the feeling that they were using drugs that weren´t highly addictive, as he didn´t crave them or anything, thank goodness for that, he didn´t need an addiction on top of his captivity.

Master and trainer never left him with any of the other people that were held. Neal assumed they were also held, he had at least seen three other persons with a collar. He was allowed to walk through the house, but he never could find anybody else than trainer and Master. And when there were other people, like staff or other slaves, he was not alone.

Neal was also still not sure what his function in this dysfunctional household was. He hadn´t been asked to use his criminal skills, probably Master didn´t know he had them. But he also wasn´t forced to do anything sexual. Until now, Neal had been asked to kneel next to Master´s feet, during dinner, when he was watching television, when he was working. He was taken care of, he was petted, fed, groomed.

Neal felt like an accessory. He needed to find a way to get away from this guy, before he could reveal what he really wanted from Neal.

 

* * *

 

That night, trainer came in and brought fresh clothes. The door of the cage, where Neal was held when he wasn´t with Master, was opened and he was told to come out. Neal didn´t acknowledge trainers presence.

“Pet, Master wants to feed you, if you don´t come out, there will be no dinner for you. You haven´t eaten all day, we don´t want you to get sick.”

Neal didn´t move, the door was closed again and trainer walked out of the room, dimming the lights.

Don´t want to get sick, that was a hoot, if you don´t want them to be sick, don´t hold them against their wishes, Neal thought bitter.

 

This continued for another day, when on the third day, Master entered.

“What is the matter, pet? Are you sick?” Master asked with real concern in his voice.

Neal pretended not to hear him.

“If you don´t come out now and eat, I will have you force fed. Do you want this? I can assure you it will be highly unpleasant.” Something in his voice changed and Neal felt his anxiety increase, but he had to stand his ground.

“OK, suit yourself. Eric, please make sure pet eats.”

Neal wondered what that was supposed to mean, but before he could find out, he felt the familiar wooziness of the collar and trainer came into the cage to extract Neal. Neal tried to crawl away, but he didn´t have the strength to do so. Trainer carried him over to the room next door, and when Neal saw what was in the room, he sort of panicked and tried to get away, only managing to get himself dosed more.

When he became more aware, he was strapped in a sort of dentist chair and his mouth was spread open with a device he had once seen in a dentist brochure.

“Now, pet, I warned you about being defiant. Eric, please continue.”

Neal realized that they must have waited until he was more conscious so he could endure this treatment with his full senses. He knew that if he could get his heart rate up, the collar would sedate him, so Neal let his panic free, but nothing happened.

“Trying to get dosed? We turned it off, pet. You will have the full experience.” Master gave a chuckle.

And with that, trainer walked over with a tube in his hands, Neal wanted to turn his head away, but they had strapped it against the back of the chair, so there was nowhere to go. The tube was inserted in his left nostril and pushed further. When it reached the back of his throat, Neal started gagging, but Trainer grabbed the tube with a pair of tweezers and pushed it further. That is why they had used the mouth spreader, Neal thought.

“Swallow, if you don´t want to make the experience even worse.” Trainer said.

Neal started swallowing and as a reward, trainer gave him a bit of water to ease the swallowing.

Once the tube was inserted, a bag was attached and they left him alone. Neal had a feeling that he wanted to wipe his nose, but he couldn´t which was frustrating like hell.

After some time, Master and trainer came back and disconnected whatever they had pumped in his stomach, probably just nutrients. Trainer started to pull on the tube and it left a stinging sensation, which wasn´t too bad, definitely not as bad as getting the tube in.

“I guess you will join me for dinner tonight? Want some water?”

Neal just nodded. Master had made his point.

 

* * *

 

That night Trainer came in and opened the door to the cage where Neal was already waiting for him. He was changed in fresh clothes and lead to the dining area, where his cushion was awaiting him. But in front of the cushion was a dog bowl. Neal hesitated before kneeling, obtaining him a swat with the crop.

“You tried to defy me, pet, you will be punished and you will learn to do what I want you to or suffer the consequences. You are a good pet, you get handfed, you are a bad boy, you eat from the bowl. You may serve us now, Rob.”

The butler walked to the door connecting the kitchen with the dining room and Marie came out and placed Master´s dinner in front of him, it smelled wonderful. Another servant, whose name Neal didn´t know, placed some stew in the bowl. It did smell good, but how was he supposed to eat this without utensils?

“Now eat, pet and I don´t want to see those white clothes dirty, you better eat without spilling. And don´t even think about touching the bowl. Bon appetite.”

Neal looked from Master and then to his bowl and then bent down to it and started lapping at the stew. It was not too hot and the taste was fabulous. But Neal could feel his cheeks burn with the humiliation of having to eat like a dog. This was not the moment to be defiant. Master had made his point this morning.

But he needed to get away from this guy, he didn´t want to find out what this guy had planned for him.

 

_To be continued…_


	7. The escape

Neal had been thinking of ways to escape. The problem was, they never left him alone, and when they did, they locked him up in the cage and Neal had checked every inch of that cage, but there was no way he was getting out of that thing without help from outside.

The only possibility he saw at the moment was attacking Master, it was his best option. Trainer was just bigger and probably stronger. Neal thought he had a chance with Master, if he was alone with him, he had a chance. Master had never been violent or physical with him, so maybe be was more like Neal himself. But Neal was becoming desperate, he needed to do something, before he lost his mind.

Over the last days, he had been monitoring Master´s and trainer´s schedule, and he knew that trainer would go out this morning. So he obediently sat through another breakfast feeding and because he had been good, he was led into Master´s office and placed on the dog bed in the corner. He was supposed to sit there while Master was working.

When he heard trainer leave, he scanned the room, he needed to get the leash loose from where it was attached to the wall, without Master seeing it, but that shouldn´t be a problem, once he started making phone calls. What could he use …

Breath Neal, zen, relax, you are getting worked up and the collar will intervene. Relax…

His last attempt had left him drugged to the gills as the collar had dozed him as soon as he got anxious trying to escape.

He could do this, he was a con man, he had run high stress cons before in his life and had kept his wits, so why was he know so insecure about this? OK, think, what could he use to knock this guy out?

His eyes scanned the room, staying locked on the paper weight on the desk. Good thinking, now he just had to wait until Master started pacing while making phone calls.

There, he was getting up and the pacing would start. This was it, it was now or never… Neal breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth making sure not to elevate his heart rate too much.

Neal disconnected the leash very quietly and Master was still standing with his back towards him. Neal jumped up and with two leaps he was at the desk, only to be tackled down from behind. What the…?

Neal hadn´t noticed that one of the other slaves had come in. Seeing his Master being attacked, he had tackled the attacker.

Master made a surprised sound and before Neal realized what was going on, everything went black.

 

* * *

 

Taylor was both furious and amused. This was even better than he could have hoped; his pet still was not broken into the life. He was furious to realize that this could have gone bad, he could have been hurt, so the collar had not worked as he wanted it to, or his pet had adapted to it, hmm, interesting. He needed to have a look at the design again with Eric. Luckily for him, one of his other pets had come in just in time, before his brain was smashed in. He had let his guard down, not wise.

He was glad he had the collar modified so he could injected a powerful sedative that knocked the wearer immediately out, by remote control.

He would need to teach pet a lesson, so he had him brought into the treatment room. He had him restrained and then called Eric.

“This is Taylor, pet tried to bash in my brains, he needs to be taught a lesson and he needs to be broken in, can you take care of it?”

_“Of course, sir, I hope you were not hurt?”_

“No, I´m fine. I had him placed in the treatment room.”

_“I will take care of him, sir.”_

Taylor disconnected the call and walked out of the room to finish his business for the day and to find more about what sort of man his pet had been in his previous life.

He had to hurry, he wanted to finish work before Eric was back so he could see what Eric had in store for pet.

 

* * *

 

When Neal woke up, he noticed it was dark. Master must have locked him in a closet or something. He moaned when the pulsating in his head got worse.

“You with us again, pet?”

Neal startled as the voice was right next to him and he hadn´t noticed. He turned his head, but there was still nothing, only complete darkness. He blinked.

Wait a minute, he blinked, he felt himself blink. He did it again to clear his vision, but it was still dark. Fear filled his heart, could he have been blinded, would Master blind him?

“I see, that you realize your eyes are open, they are. They are the nicest blue pair I have ever seen. You know how much I like them, pet. So why would you try to attack me?”

Neal was still too much in shock to respond. He wanted to bring his hands to his eyes, to rub them, when he noticed his hand where placed in mittens.

“Yes pet, I have taken away two of your senses, if you try anything else, your hearing will be next.”

Neal shivered when he heard the harsh words, so Master didn´t even denied that he blinded him. What would he do now? Not seeing would make him even more vulnerable. His chances of escaping had drastically decreased.

“I will lead you by the leash for now, but I expect you to learn to follow me without the leash, like a good little pet you are going to become.”

“Eric, can you ask cook to prepare the lunch, pet and I will be in the dining room soon.”

“Of course, sir.”

Neal could hear trainer leaving the room. He startled when Master´s hand caressed his face. He was gentle, but not seeing the movement to prepare him for the touch, made the experience worse. What had he gotten himself into?

“You still think you can escaped and get back to your old life, don´t you?” Master´s voice had taken a sinister tone.

“DON´T YOU?” Master jerked his collar and Neal knew he couldn´t keep the fear from his face. Not being able to see what Master wanted or was planning, this was even more terrifying. But wasn´t that what Master wanted?

“No Master.” Neal was surprised how his voice sounded, it was rough from disuse.

“Good boy, but are you saying this because you know it is the truth or because you think it is what I want to hear?”

Neal tried to show his submissiveness in his body language and it must have worked, because Master started petting him.

“You must be hungry, you didn´t eat that much at breakfast.” Master pulled the leash and Neal sat up from the treatment table he had been lying on and stumbled forward.

When Neal felt the collar being dragged down, he kneeled, assuming he was next to Master´s chair. He smelled coffee and fresh bread. His stomach started growling. He turned his head towards Master to get a piece of food.

“You haven´t been a good boy, pet.”

Neal heard Master starting to eat, according to the sound of utensils against a plate. He guessed that the remark mend that he had to eat from the bowl. This wasn´t going to be easy. He couldn´t even see the bowl. He gingerly bent over towards where he thought the bowl would be, but it wasn´t there. Even though he couldn´t see Master, he looked up towards where he knew Master was sitting.

“What is the matter pet? Can´t find your bowl?”

Neal knew better than to answer, so he just tried to show his submissiveness again, it had worked before. He kneeled in perfect posture, as trainer had taught him and he bowed his head.

“You don´t get to eat, you think you get rewarded when you just tried to kill me a couple of hours ago? Don´t I give you everything you need? You failed me.” Master sounded bitter and disappointed. And somehow the disappointment pulled on some strings in Neal´s heart. He had been a bad pet.

Neal let his forehead touch the floor and he stayed that way, earning him an approving sound. Trainer had told him it was the most humble gesture a pet could make, it would please Master as it showed surrender. Neal knew he had to admit defeat… for now…

 

_To be continued…_


	8. The dinner party

Neal was adapting to being blind, trainer had told him that if he needed anything, he had to touch Master on his knee, it would be an indication of need, for instance if he needed to go to the toilet, or wanted food, his nose wiped, he couldn´t do anything by himself and that was exactly what Master wanted. Neal thought that that was one of most humiliating lessons he had learned. They made him totally independent on Master and trainer. The other staff was not supposed to help Neal unless one of them said so.

 

Today Master seemed in a good mood, Neal was kneeling next to his chair and he was fed a roll and some boeuf bourguignon, it was delicious, as good as Neal had when he was living in Paris. Paris…it seemed like a lifetime ago that he was in Paris. Neal desperately tried to hold on to his old life, his name, his memories. Neal was a social being, and being deprived from social contacts and speech, touch and sight, Neal was miserable.

“What is the matter, pet?” You seem a bit down.” Master started caressing his hair and Neal leaned into the touch. Although he loathed himself for wanting the affection, he craved it, he needed it to remain sane, being deprived of sight, made him loose track of time for some reason. He could only guess what time of day it was, by the meals he was getting and when he was supposed to sleep or rest, but maybe they were screwing him over, there was no way of telling. And the drugs the collar and trainer gave him, made him all the more disoriented. It all fed his insecurity and dependence.

Before Neal could help himself, he placed his head on Master´s thigh. He could hear a surprised gasp and he pulled away almost immediately.

“No, no, pet, it is OK, you may put your head in my lap.” Master continued petting him and for some reason, it felt so good. “You deserve a threat, tonight you may sleep in my bed.”

Neal tensed when the words were spoken, but the collar mellowed his feelings and he dropped his head back on Master´s leg. When Master had had his coffee, and Neal had been given some sips and a chocolate, they retreated to the Master bedroom. Neal was stripped of his clothing and gently pulled towards the bed. He lay down and the soft sheets and blankets where placed over him. Not being able to see what was happening around him, his hearing had improved and he could hear Master move around in the room.

The next thing he felt, was a prick in his left arm. Not again, Neal thought. He could have expected it; Master would never allow him to sleep next to him, not without restraints or being drugged, not after trying to bash Master´s brain in. Neal felt his thoughts getting jumbled and he couldn´t really concentrate anymore. He felt a bit spacey and he felt… He felt Master crawl into the bed behind him and he started stroking Neal, his flanks, his back, his arms, and then the arm snaked around his abs, gently touching them. Neal fell asleep under the gentle petting of Master.

 

* * *

 

When Neal woke up, he was disoriented; he was not in his cage, whatever he was sleeping on felt different, the bedding felt like high count sheets. He stiffened when he realized that he must be in Master´s bed. What had happened?, Neal frantically searched his memory, but there was nothing.

“Good morning, gorgeous.” Master started caressing him again. “How much I would like to spend the day with you in bed, we have things to do; let´s get a quick shower.”

Master snicked the leash on the D-ring of his collar and Neal got up out of bed and followed Master into the big walk-in shower. The water felt so nice and the bathing products were of a high-end brand Neal would have considered buying himself in another life. He was made to kneel in the stall, but felt that there was some padding placed on the floor, so he would be comfortable. His hair was washed and rinsed, conditioner was applied, and then Master tilted his head.

“I´m going to shave you pet, hold still.”

Neal kept his perfect posture while he was shaved and afterwards rinsed off again. When the water was turned off, he was pulled up and he could feel someone else standing there to dry him off and to tame his hair into shape, probably the girl that normally bathed him.

When he was dressed, Master took him into the dining area and he was fed a croissant with cherry jelly and some coffee.

“Tonight I´m having a dinner party and you will be on your best behavior, pet. I have a couple of business associates coming over and I want to show them what a good little pet you are. I expect you to be on your best behavior.”

With that said, Master got up and they went into the study where he had to wait on the dog bed. Not having to do anything only made Neal´s anxiety increase, he was thinking about what would happen tonight. Business associates, they had to be criminal contacts, who else could Master show that he was keeping human beings as pets. But the more worked up Neal became, they more he was dozed and soon he wasn´t able to maintain the kneeling position and he started listing to the side. It prompted Master to come over and to arrange him on the dog bed.

“What are you getting worked up about, pet?”

Neal was already too far away to be able to answer the question, but he could Master chuckle cruelly.

The day passed quicker than Neal anticipated, especially considering he napped most of the day due to the drugs.

“Let´s go pet, I need to get you ready for tonight.”

Get ready, to do what? Neal´s thoughts ran through his mind. Luckily this time he remembered in time to stay relaxed and breathe through it.

“Very good, pet. I want you to look the best you can. I had a special order made for you.”

Neal´s hands were released from the leather mittens he was wearing but he couldn´t really stretch his hands, they way he wanted them.

“No worries, pet, I will have them massaged. I hope you have learned your lesson, if not, I will make it permanent.”

Neal didn´t want to taunt Master, so he just nodded. He was bathed and rubbed with some nice smelling body lotion and then assisted in changing his pants, and by the smell and feel of it, they were leather, he could only imagine them to be black. Next was a shirt that was only buttoned up half way. It felt soft, probably silk.

“You do look good in black. It makes your eyes stand out.” Master´s remark confirmed Neal´s suspicion. His hair was styled and then he was told to kneel again. By the sound of it, Master was getting ready as well.

 

* * *

 

Neal was lead into the living room, where he could hear several people present; he could hear them stop talking when they entered the room.

“Welcome, to my home, I hope you are all enjoying yourselves, please feel free to use the pet room for your pets, if you have specific questions, please ask Eric, he is my pet trainer.”

With that said, everybody started talking again, Neal was following Master, until he sat down and Neal was pulled down. He kneeled next to Master and took up his posture, he didn´t want to know what would happen if he didn´t with all these people present.

He could hear the conversations between Master and his guests and Neal didn´t need to let anything over to his imagination when they were talking about their merchandise. These were human traffickers of the worst kind. He heard Master getting compliments on his latest pets, so there were more that him in this situation. It was food for thought. How many pets did Master have, and where were they?

Suddenly he was petted by a strange hand and he startled.

“Oh…, Taylor, you blinded him?” a female voice asked.

“Hi Cindy, yes, he needed to be taught a lesson.”

“He is a gorgeous one, have you played with him yet, how is his endurance?”

“I haven´t used him like that yet, Cindy.”

“What a shame, to let all of that go to waste. Tell you what, give me some playtime with him and I´ll give you a discount on your next order and I promise I won´t do anything too rough, let´s just say, I would like to see how well he suffers.” The woman said with a little purr in her voice.

Neal´s anxiety skyrocketed, Master was going to lend him out to some stranger he had never seen, and who had plans with him, plans he didn´t want to find out about. But again, the drugs did their job and Neal started to feel woozy, so he placed his head on Master´s leg, by now it was his safe spot. It earned him some petting from Master.

“Hmm, you see Cindy, he still is not ready to leave the house, but you can use my playroom, if that is expectable?”

“Only if you make breakfast tomorrow morning.” The woman laughed.

“That shouldn´t be a problem. “After dinner, I will take care of the collar and you can take him to the playroom.”

 

* * *

 

By the time they were called to dinner, Neal was more lucid again and once again took his place next to Master´s chair. He was hand fed a delicious dinner and made to drink a whole glass of some heavy red wine, and although Neal would have enjoyed such a wine in his previous life, he hadn´t drank in quite a bit and he could feel the alcohol flush to his cheeks. The combination of the drugs still in his system and the alcohol made him feel relaxed when he was led out of the dining area into the playroom by Master, while the other guests left the house.

“There is my beautiful boy, come to mommy.”

Neal stiffened at the words.

 

_To be continued…_


	9. The morning after

When Neal woke up the next morning, he was sore and achy. Mommy had played rough, she probably didn´t do any permanent damage, but that was not the way Neal felt. He felt like his skin was torn open from his neck down to his knees, she had used several types of floggers and whips and Neal was sure she broke skin on several occasions; His jaw was still sore from the gag she had him wear all evening. His nipples still sensitive from the clamps she used to torment him. He had played before he was taken, but never this rough.  
So Neal was surprised to find out that he was in a soft bed, not his cage and that the person that was sleeping next to him was not Mommy. By the sound of the breathing, the person was still sleeping and by the scent of it, it was Master. He was in Master´s bed, how did he get here? Neal couldn´t really remember when Mommy was done playing with him. He must have gone into subdrop at some point. The moment he moved, Master stirred as well.

“How are you feeling, gorgeous?”

Neal didn´t say anything, but touched Master´s knee.

“Let me see.” Master pulled away the sheet, exposing Neal. “I see, some redness, Cindy came true on her word, not to damage you too much. You will be sore, but no skin was broken. I will ask trainer to apply some more ointment on it, but you are fine. We took care of most of the redness last night.”

Fine?, Neal thought. I am not even remotely fine, being kept by some psychopaths as a pet and sex toy. 

Master left the bed and came back seconds later and sat next to Neal. “Here, drink, it is some orange juice. You need sugars.” 

Neal drank from the glass and had to admit, it was very sweet, freshly squeezed orange juice, and it was delicious.

“Come, let me take you for a nice relaxing bath,” Master just got out of bed and Neal knew he had to follow without the leash. He tried to orient himself in the room and then got out of bed and followed Master a bit hesitantly.

When he neared the bathtub, Master told him to hold still and he was lead into the bathtub, so he wouldn´t slip. The water was warm and something nice smelling was added to the water and it made Neal relax, when he was guided to lie down between Master´s legs, he first hissed, when the hot water touched his sensitive skin, but then it felt good. He was gently washed and his sore muscles were rubbed and Neal could feel himself zoning out again when Master started to play with his overly sensitive nipples. 

“Pet, you with me?” By the tone of Master, he must have called out several times already. Neal nodded and sat up in the tub. Master got up from behind him and started toweling himself while one of the servants took care of Neal. He was led to a table and was told to lay down face down, only then did he realized it was a massage table. Someone started massaging him with warm oils to alleviate some of the aches and soreness.

“You performed very well, pet. Cindy was very pleased, which will make our next business deal a lot easier. But who knew you were such a pain slut. She told me that she noticed that this was not your first time playing, and that you sub dropped on her. And you were zoning out again when we were taking care of you.”

Neal just enjoyed the massage and knew he would be sore for a few days but that no damage was done permanently.

“Cindy asked for more play time, I told her I would think about it, but I will set a new date, on the condition I can watch. She said you are a natural; I would like to see for myself.”

Neal tensed up at Master´s words, but soon the collar made sure he was feeling relaxed again.

“When you are done here, come get some breakfast.” Neal could hear Master leave the room.

* * * 

The next day, Neal was let into the playroom, of course, Neal couldn´t see in which room he was taken.

“Hi gorgeous, you ready for some more playtime?”

Neal stiffened when he heard Mommy´s voice.  
He took a step back, but Master held his leash taut. He wasn´t going anywhere, and tensing up didn´t result in the wanted relief from the collar. Master must have turned it off again.

“Now, now, not so shy. I could see that you enjoyed our playtime together last time. You were such a good pet and you suffered so nicely.”

Master told him to kneel and Neal´s ankle and wrists restraints where fastened, so he was standing spread eagled. Next came the gag, but this time it was a spider gag, which Neal hated, he always started drooling and found it more than humiliation, when his mouth was both too dry and too wet at the same time.  
When he felt feathers gently touching his skin, he got goose bumps and he felt himself getting aroused. When Mommy attached the nipple clamps, he felt himself surrendering to her and he moaned softly.

“Such a good boy. I don´t want you to come until I say you can.” Mommy said, picking up the flogger from the nearby table.

Somewhere during Mommy´s playtime, Taylor can see Neal zoning out. Cindy played rough and edged Neal for quite some time. Taylor now understood why she liked playing with Neal, he really suffered beautifully. Neal wasn´t very vocal, but enough to make it thrilling.  
Neal was standing up with his wrists attached to some contraption Cindy made with ropes, the spider gag had been replaced by a regular ball gag and the nipple clamps by a different pare that could be worn longer without cutting off circulation. She had placed a cock ring on Neal, and Taylor had to admit, Neal made a gorgeous picture standing there, ready to be used by his Master.

Taylor startled a bit when Cindy suddenly stood in front of him. He was so focused on his pet, that he hadn´t see her walking up to him.

“You like him like that, Taylor?” I can prepare him for you if you want?” Cindy pressed a bit closer to Taylor and could feel his arousal. 

“No, that takes too much time, it will have to wait for another time.”

“I have an idea. I can help you with that.” Cindy pointed at the erection Taylor was sporting.

Cindy released Neal from his bindings and made him kneel again, attaching his wrists to his ankles. She made sure he was comfortable kneeling and took the ball gag out of his mouth, gently massaging his jaw, before putting a ring gag in. She attached the top strap, to his ankles as well, so Neal was forced to keep his head a bit tipped backwards.

“Doesn´t he make a pretty cock slut, kneeling like that. I will leave now, so you two boys can have some quality time together.”

Neal felt Mommy leave and the silence that followed was deafening, the tension almost palpable.

“You do make a pretty sight, pet.” Master combed his fingers through Neal´s hair, and Neal started to relax in Master´s hands. He was totally helpless as his hands were restraint behind his back. He moaned around the gag and Master tightened his grip on Neal´s hair.

And before Neal realized it, Master shoved his hard cock in Neal´s open mouth.

“Oh, you are exquisite, you are even better than I dreamed about. 

Neal wasn´t listening, he zoned out some time ago and did his best not to gag, but couldn´t help himself when Master pushed all the way into his throat. Neal couldn´t stop the tears from spilling, they were an involuntary reaction to his gagging, but Master was only more please and came deep in Neal´s throat with a satisfied grunt. 

He pulled his softening cock out and wiped some spilled come with his thump. Neal swallowed and Master fondled Neal´s face while unfastening his gag and restraints.

“Let´s get you in the shower, gorgeous.” Taylor took one of the warmed blankets and threw it over Neal so he would be comfortable and warm when they left the playroom, that was always kept a bit warmer than the rest of the house.  
Taylor fastened the leash and put on his clothes, before calling in Eric, he was better in taking care of pets after rough play than Taylor himself.  
Eric entered the playroom just when Taylor was feeding Neal some sport drink, to help with the energy loss. 

“Please clean him up and bring him to my bedroom.”

Eric saw that they played rough tonight by the amount of welts on Neal´s back, buttocks and thighs. He must be really sore, but Neal doesn´t show any discomfort until the hot water hits him. He hissed and Eric told him it was OK to be sore. He gently washed Neal and dried him off with soft warm towels and then rubbed some soothing nice smelling ointment on the welts, to ease the discomfort and to make sure they would heal well.  
Cindy and Taylor are professionals, because no skin was really broken and still Eric could see that Neal is in a lot of hurt. Eric turned on the collar as soon as they were ready and he had Neal settled into Taylor´s bed. He gave Neal a soft blankie in his hands, It is a small soft brown blanket that has Taylor´s scent on it and he could see Neal snuggling it while drifting into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

“I guess he is already out, sir.” Taylor announced when he entered the living room where Taylor was savoring a cognac with Cindy.

“He is a natural, Eric.”

“I know sir, but I must warn you, I think he is in sub drop.”

“You think so?” Taylor looked a bit baffled by the news. He had seen Neal zone out, but hadn´t expected a sub drop.

“Yes, I also think so, you know that the aftercare is important now.” Cindy states businesslike. "I will see you around Taylor. Call me if your pet needs entertainment."

“Thanks Cindy.” Taylor put his glass down and immediately walked to the Master bedroom. Pet lay on his side and Taylor slipped behind him in the bed.

“ Hi gorgeous, are you alright?” He slipped his hands under the duvet over Neal´s flanks and heard a small hiss when he touched some of the welts.

“I´m sorry pet, here let me make it all better.”

Taylor continued to pet, caress and praise Neal, who was drifting in and out of sleep. And after a while, Neal turned around so that he was facing Taylor and he nuzzled him. Finally he placed his head on Taylor´s chest and fell asleep.  
Taylor grinned, pet was doing so good, he would be worth a lot of money soon. 

To be continued…


	10. The Cavalry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who have been waiting for Peter and Mozzie, here they are...
> 
> And please remember, all mistakes and plot holes are mine as this story is unbeta´ed.

Ruiz and Peter were working on a case the violent crime unit had been working on for months. Peter´s department was doing well, but they had a low case load, so Peter had promised Ruiz to help out. Ruiz´s unit was building a case against Taylor Bonamis, he was a king pin in a human trafficking ring.

 

Peter had listened to the surveillance tapes that had been recorded by the team, he had read through the files, but he couldn´t find anything to pin on Bonamis. He grabbed the folder with the surveillance pictures and flipped through the dozens of pictures until suddenly his breath hitched. This couldn´t be right, it just couldn´t…

Neal was dead, he couldn´t be in this picture. He had seen Neal´s body; had felt how cold and still it was…

When he looked closer at the picture, he noticed that the man kneeling next to Bonamis was different looking, his hair was different, longer, he was heavier and his whole demeanor was different from Neal´s. But the most shocking thing was the collar the man was wearing. And it seemed to be attached to the leash Bonamis held in his hand. Well, it shouldn´t be a real surprise, as Bonamis was a human trafficker. But to just openly sit with another human on a leash in the real world was something different than being in a club.

Suddenly the alarm on his desk went off and Peter startled. It was six o´clock, he had promised El to be home in time, so he quickly threw the folder in his briefcase and left his office.

 

* * *

 

Once home, he gave El a peck on the cheek and walked over to Neal.

“Hey Neal, how are you doing?” Neal looked up at him and gave him a big toothless grin. Peter picked Neal out of the booster chair and walked into the living room, sitting down on the couch.

“I´m leaving now, hon.” El called out, she walked over to her two men and gave them both a kiss, before leaving the house to meet up with some friends for drinks.

“Come little man, we are going to bed; I will read you a story.” Peter stood up and climbed up the stairs.

He first took Neal to the changing table in the nursery. While he was changing Neal, he started thinking about the picture. But he was quickly pulled out of his thoughts when Neal tried to grab a bottle of lotion.

“Hold on, little man, let´s finish this, so I can read you a story.” He picked Neal up and walked up to their bedroom and lay down with Neal on top of his chest. He grabbed the book that was left there by El and started reading.

 

_I am Sam Sam I am That Sam-I-am That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am Do you like green eggs and ham I do not like them, Sam-I-am. I do not like green eggs and ham_

…

_I do so like green eggs and ham! Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-am_

 

When he finished the story, Neal was sleeping and drooling on his chest. He gently picked up his son and walked back to the nursery and placed him in his crib.

He went down and reheated some of the tuna casserole, El had left out for him. He looked for a cold beer in the fridge. With his beer and plate, he made his way back to the living room where he turned on the television. But he started thinking again about the picture and went to get the folder. When he looked at the picture for a second time, he was in doubt, the man had a resemblance with Neal, but he couldn´t be sure. The pictures were blurry because they were made from a great distance. He decided to let it go for the moment and focus on building a case against Bonamis. But he made a mental note to ask the surveillance team to try and make a better picture of the man that had been kneeling next to Bonamis.

 

 

* * *

 

Two weeks later…

Peter was signing off on all the requests and forms that were brought in by his assistant, who could have guessed that being ASAC could be so much paperwork?

Underneath in the pile, he found the folder with the Bonamis case, oh right, he had asked if they could get better pictures of the man that was in almost all of Bonamis pictures. When he opened the file and saw the new pictures, he heart stopped, it had to be Neal. It just had to be. He quickly closed the file and got up. He had to get in contact with Mozzie. What day was it? Oh yeah, Wednesday, that mend he was probably babysitting Theo. Peter called out to Diana and got conformation.

He quickly left the building and drove to Diana´s place. When the door was opened, Peter immediately started talking. “Mozzie, I need you to look at something. It´s urgent.”

“Oh, hi suit. Sure, show me.”

Peter grabbed the pictures from his briefcase and showed them to Mozzie, who paled when he saw the pictures.

“How long have you known?” was all Mozzie said, his tone accusingly.

“Two weeks, I was not sure, are you?”

“That´s Neal, Peter. We have to get him, who is this guy?”

“He is a human trafficker we are investigating, his name is Taylor Bonamis. You know him?”

“I don´t tend to associate with human traffickers Peter, it is not my style.” Mozzie sounded a bit offended. “Do you have moving pics? We can´t assess Neal´s condition on stills.”

“No, but I will ask the surveillance team if the can record some.”

“He is not dead.” Mozzie whispered.

“I know, I can´t wrap my head around it either. But we will get him back, I promise.” Peter put his hand on Mozzie´s shoulder.

 

* * *

 

Peter knew Ruiz had someone inside Taylor´s organization and he asked for a private meeting. The undercover agent was reluctant, and only agreed when Ruiz explained that they suspected one of their CI´s to be in danger.

When they were finally able to meet, Peter explained that he needed to verify whether one of the persons held by Taylor was indeed a former FBI CI. He showed the picture of what he believed was Neal.

“You mean Taylor´s pet. I don´t know his name, he is referred to as pet. He is FBI?”

“What do you mean?”

“He didn´t strike me as a captive, I thought this was one of those 24/7 deals where people chose to live like this.”

“Well, if this is Neal Caffrey, he didn´t chose this life. We suspect that he was kidnapped.”

“It will be a very hard extraction, he is Taylor´s favorite pet and nobody has been allowed to take him outside the penthouse.”

“What do you mean, nobody is allowed to take him?” Peter´s heart sank, he could imagine what was implied.

“Business partners are allowed to use Taylor´s pets, but he is very protective of this one. Now that you mention it, I only know of one person that has been allowed to play with him, a woman named Cindy. She is known for her cruelty, but as far as I could see, no real damage was done physically to your CI. But I can only imagine the psychological damage. Have you seen him, his behavior? I have seen him only once before, but he wasn´t playing submissive. I guess they have broken him, I´m sorry Peter.”

 

_To be continued…_


	11. Escaping

Taylor was brokering a deal with one of his associates when he was interrupted by a phone call from Dominique.

“ _Bonsoir Taylor, I have some important information for you. Interpol is investigating the disappearance of Nicolas Hardy. I heard that he is somehow American and that they are on a joined investigation with the FBI. I had it checked out and it turns out the case agent in the States is called Ruiz. I just want to let you know to be careful. I will take care of this site of the investigation_.”

“Merci Dominique, I will contact you later.”

“Sorry Louis, I have to interrupt our meeting, can we set up another meeting tomorrow, something personal has come up.”

“No, problem, same time, same place?”

“yeah, sure, sorry to have to cut our meeting short.”

“No problem, see you tomorrow.”

 

Taylor left the warehouse and drove back to the city. He had to think, this was not good. He had to find out who Nicolas Hardy was. He knew he should have checked it earlier, he had felt safe, stupid mistake. He picked up his phone and snapped a picture of Neal, who he had left in his cage during his meeting, and sent it to a number he knew by memory.

He called and asked Eric to come into his office.

“I need you to get rid of all of them. The FBI is conducting an investigation. Give the staff off and after you have taken care of the merchandise, leave and keep your phone on. I´ll take of the rest.”

“Sure, boss.”

 

Taylor heard to the staff leave the house and he walked into the kitchen to get some lunch. He saw that cook had made tuna grilled sandwiches, so he went to collect his pet and secured him on his spot next to the dining table. He then went to get the sandwiches and grabbed himself a beer. While he fed his pet, he watched him and started thinking what his next move would be.

 

Two hours later he received a text with a number of a locker in a storage center. He told one of his men to pick up whatever was in the locker. He then transferred funds to an international bank number.

Taylor looked at his pet; who was a picture of obedience. Well, he was now, he could remember, in the beginning when his pet had tried to get away, out of the apartment. But he had given up fairly quickly when he realized the locks were state of the art and couldn´t be opened by himself. He had been punished severely on several occasions, which had only escalated in pet trying to attack him. Blinding pet had helped, but he had quickly adapted to being blind and when Taylor had caught him trying to contact some members of the staff, he had Eric give him some drugs that had a disorienting effect. He knew the drugs were bad, he had used them before and he had seen that the victims all experienced extreme anxiety. The one time experience had been bad enough for his pet to behave.

 

* * *

 

When Eric returned with the envelope, Taylor couldn´t wait to see who his pet had been in his former life. He opened the letter and started reading.

Subject is identified as:

_Nicolas Hardy_

_Art History Teacher at the Sorbonne,_

_5 Rue des Deux Ponts, Paris, France_

 

 

_Neal Caffrey_

_CI for the FBI, White Collar division, New York_

_Killed in action._

_351 Riverside Drive, New York, United States_

 

SH*T…Wait, killed in action?

 

_Nicholas Halden_

_…_

The list went on, why did this guy need so many aliases? He had to be a criminal. Taylor was surprised; this was not what he had expected.

OK, Taylor had to think, if he was a CI that had been working for the FBI, he needed to get rid of him. If the FBI thought he was dead, maybe he was still valuable, why would he fake his own death?

 

“Neal?”

He could see Neal gave a sign of recognition, even as small as it was, and he could also see that he tried to hide it. He had to be careful. He pushed on the remote control of the collar so a dose of sedatives were administered. He could Neal see that it worked, as Neal started to list to the side.

Taylor picked up the phone and called Cindy not taking his eyes off of Neal.

“Hi Cindy, I need a favor, I need you to come and get pet, right now. Are you interested?”

“ _What is the catch Taylor?”_

“I got word that I´m under investigation. I will get rid of the rest, which is not a problem. But I don´t want to lose this one yet and I know you can make him disappear without making it permanent.”

“ _That is a big favor, you realize that, don´t you?”_ The pleasantness had left Cindy´s voice.

“I know Cindy, and I wouldn´t ask if it wasn´t important.”

“ _You got attached.”_ Cindy stated, it wasn´t it question.

“No, of course not.”

“ _If not, why don´t you get rid of him? It wouldn´t be the first time_.”

“Just come and get him…”

“ _Fine, I will take care of him. I will come over immediately to pick him up_.”

“Thanks Cindy.”

 

* * *

 

Neal had been sitting on his dog bed in the corner of the office when Taylor took the call. After the first call he knew something important was going on as it someone French calling.

Visually he tried to still look the submissive little pet. He had learned his lesson after the last escape attempt. Master had been furious and had ordered to drug Neal with something that had disoriented him to the point that he just wanted to die. He had felt disconnected and his perception of depth had been lost, combined with not seeing, it had given him a feeling of utter helplessness. It had been the worst experience in his whole life, and that included the play time with Mommy.

He had to pay attention, something as going on, when Taylor started making phone calls. Some time had passed and both men had lunch while Master obviously waited for something.

“Neal.”

Neal startled by the use of his real name but tried to minimize his reaction. He thought it had worked until he started to feel off and he couldn´t maintain his posture. He must have been dozed again by the collar. He exaggerated his weakness and started listing to the side and finally resting his head on the soft dogbed.

He could hear Master calling Mommy, no Cindy…, not Mommy… When he heard Master asking her to come and pick him up, this could be the moment he had waited for. This could be the moment he could escape. He needed to lay low, so Master wouldn´t doze him again. He had to make his move during the transfer. He probably wouldn´t get another chance.

 

* * *

Neal was doing his best not to get anxious, he knew the collar would dose him and he already had one dose, he was building a tolerance to the drug, but still, he needed to remain calm.

Master was nervous; Neal could sense it, being so long without his sight had done that. He sat up, when he heard the bell. A moment later several people, entered the room, and Neal could smell Mommy´s Chanel N°. 5. She combed her fingers through his hair, she loved doing that and Neal had to admit, it really felt good. He had been deprived of human contact for so long, that any contact felt good.

“Come, baby, you are coming home with Mommy.” She attached the leash to Neal´s collar and pulled him to his feet. Neal wavered for a moment, because the drugs did influence his balance, but she let him adjust.

“I will take care of him, Taylor. You will make sure Eric will send over all his stuff? Oh, and I need the remote to the collar.”

“Thanks, I really owe you.”

Cindy turned around and pulled Neal with her, so he walked obediently behind her. He could feel that they walked into the elevator. Neal needed to keep level headed. This could be his chance, maybe his only chance.

When they entered the garage, the sound changed and it was obviously that they were walking towards the car, he could hear it idling, Neal could also smell fresh air and hear street noises to his right, so he guessed the door to the garage was open. This was it, he needed to make a break for it, before they placed him in the car to who knows where.

Neal grabbed the leash and pulled, pulling it from Mommy´s hands, who hadn´t expected this. Neal overbalanced, as he couldn´t really estimate how much force to use, but he kept to his feet and started running towards the street noise he could hear. He could hear Mommy call out and people running towards him and closing in on him. But if he could get onto a street, there would be people who would be witness, he could do this.

The tackle caught him by surprise and he hit the ground, his head hitting the concrete with such force that one of the blinding contacts knocked out.

Just before Neal lost consciousness, the light pierced into his brain and he realized that Master used contacts to blind him, he wasn´t permanently blinded.

_To be continued…_


	12. The warrant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is again a bit more graphic. Warning for breathplay.
> 
> I changed two lines as reader Jamie correctly pointed out that Neal is still blinded, so his vision couldn not grey out and he of course can not notice anything by sight, he is blinded.  
> That is what happens when you write without a beta, all mistakes are mine. But please point them out if you read them, I will correct them if possible.

Cindy was relieved; this little stunt pet pulled, could have gone really bad. Luckily her men had been able to catch pet before he could make his way into civilization. She walked over the unconsciousness form of pet lying on the concrete floor.

“Get him in the car. I will deal with him later”

Pet was placed on the floor of her Maybach, she got in on the other side and wondered why the collar hadn´t intervened. She took her phone and called Eric. He promised her to come over as soon as possible.

While they drove off and left the city, a warrant was granted and the FBI came into action, raiding the apartment of Taylor Bonamis.

 

* * *

 

Peter and Ruiz followed the SWAT team up the stairs to Taylor Bonamis apartment. When the SWAT leader rang the bell to see if anyone would answer it, they were surprised that Bonamis opened the door himself. He was ushered back into the house by the SWAT members. Peter and Ruiz walked in behind them, guns drawn. When they entered the living room, Taylor was lying down on the floor with his arms crossed behind his head. An agent was just placing handcuffs around his wrists.

“Taylor Bonamis, You have the right to remain silent when questioned. Anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning, if you wish. If you decide to answer any questions now, without an attorney present, you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney. Knowing and understanding your rights as I have explained them to you, are you willing to answer my questions without an attorney present?” Ruiz looked at Taylor who was grinning while he was helped to his feet.

“I want to talk to my lawyer.”

“Is there anybody else present on the premises?” Peter asked.

“No, I gave my staff off for the day. I presume you have a warrant for my arrest and a search warrant?”

“Yes we do.” Ruiz showed him both papers.

Taylor looked smug. Peter could see that they wouldn´t find anything here, he was too confident.

“Take him away.” Ruiz said to two of his agents. He turned to face Peter and wanted to say something when one the SWAT team leader came up to them to inform both agents that no one else was found on the premises.

Peter cursed.

 

* * *

 

When they left the garage, Cindy had injected Neal with a powerful tranquilizer, so he wouldn´t wake up during their trip. She didn´t want a repeat of his last stunt. She had been careless and almost paid the price, no pet was worth going to jail for.

For anyone looking into the car, Neal would appear to be asleep, his head resting against a pillow and a cozy blanket covering him.

Cindy was thinking how she would punish him when they got home, since she had to make sure that he didn´t try this again. She first had to find out more about this pet. When she called Eric, she had asked to bring all the info on pet with him. She smiled cruelly when she looked at him as she thought of a suitable penance.

 

* * *

 

Peter sat down in his office and looked at the file. They had found the playroom and a room that looked like a sort of small hospital in Bonamis´ apartment. It had Peter made sick to think that Neal had been held in that room and they had done who knows what to him.

But they had found no signs of people that were held against their will, especially not Neal. The house had been professionally cleaned and no fingers prints other that Bonamis and his men had been found. Bonamis had given them a list with all the personnel he employed and they had been interviewed all of them, no one had seen anything out of the ordinary. Nobody had seen a person that was referred to as pet. The defense wall around Bonamis stood, it didn´t even have cracks at the moment. Peter had never felt so frustrated.

Taylor wasn´t saying anything and his lawyer had informed Ruiz that his client had some specific kinks, none of them illegal. They had confronted Bonamis with the pictures of Neal, but he didn´t say a word. His lawyer only stated that Bonamis didn´t know the man´s name, but the gentlemen in the picture was a man his client had met in a club and had acted like this voluntarily. And no, his client didn´t know where the gentlemen resided, yes they could provide the name of the club.

When Bonamis was brought back to his cell, Ruiz clapped Peter on the shoulder and left to take care of the paperwork.

Peter´s worry was through the roof, this sort of men didn´t leave evidence around. They had found that out when they searched his apartment. He could only hope that Neal was still alive.

When he looked at the clock, he cursed, eight o´clock already. While sliding his arms in his jacket, he called El to tell her he was on his way.

 

* * *

 

When Neal came back to awareness, he noticed that he was kneeling, but his hands were in a strange position next to his head. It was only when he was thinking about this strange position that he noticed that his head and wrists were fastened in a sort of wooden plank, like stocks you sometime saw in medieval times. His jaw ached from the spider gag he was wearing. He felt groggy from whatever drug they had administered.

He sighed, so far for escaping. But then he remembered that light had pierced in his brain when he hit his head. Now it was dark again. They must be blinding him with contacts, unfortunately he couldn´t reach his face, so he couldn´t see if he could them out.

He startled badly when a swat hit his ass. He had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn´t noticed someone entering the room.

“Good morning pet.”

“mrnnng”

“uh, uh, no talking, pet, I thought Master had explained the rules, they also apply here. You know that you have to be punished for what you did, don´t you?”

I can see that Master spoiled you, but I want to to look leaner, so we will work on that pet, I want to see those beautiful abs again.

She stood in front of him, sizing him up, thinking about what she would do. She must have thought of something, because suddenly she walked over to the wall where floggers, and wipes were on display.

She caned Neal´s feet until he was sure he didn´t have any skin left on his feet. He wasn´t going to walk anywhere, soon. At some moment he had stopped trying to choke back his cries. When he made too much noise, Mommy had placed an inflatable gag in his mouth that was kept in place by the spider gag. It had effectively muffled his cries.

Neal was sucking in air through his noise, as his mouth was completely shut off by the gag. When she finally stopped, Neal wasn´t really with her anymore, he had spaced out somewhere along the way. That was until Mommy stood in front of him and squeezed his noise shut. Neal tried to stay calm until he realized she wasn´t letting go. He started struggling, but since he was restrained, he couldn´t do much, except try to suck in air through his mouth. He felt his face flush and he had a feeling his eyes were going to pop out of his head, tears started rolling down his face.

Just before he thought she would really suffocate him, she let go.

“You do make a beautiful gasper.” Mommy said it in awe.

Neal was still sucking in air through his noise, but it felt like he couldn´t get enough air in. Luckily he couldn´t see that Mommy was looking all aroused and flushed.

When he didn´t react, Cindy squeezed his noise shut again. Neal immediately started struggling right away, although he couldn´t do much, this time she kept squeezing until he stilled. She deflated the gag and slapped pet hard in the face.

 

Neal woke because of a hard stinging slap to his cheek and automatically gasped for air. Cindy smiled cruelly.

“Remember pet, you live, because I want you to.”

Cindy called in her pet trainer and asked him to take care of Neal. She left the playroom and walked over to freshen up. She needed to find out more about her pet, hopefully Eric had arrived with info.

 

_To be continued…_


	13. Closing in

Peter had been reading up on Cindy Coleman, she turned out to be the owner of an exclusive fetish club in Manhattan, called Club Noir. He knew she wouldn´t talk to him, and Peter was afraid that if they cornered her, she would get rid of evidence the same way Bonamis had. The undercover agent had told him that she was their best bet in finding Neal, if he was still alive.

Jones entered his office with a stoic expression on his face, this had to be bad.

“Yes, Jones?”

“Peter, Violent Crimes are at a crime scene they want you to see. Ruiz is already there.”

“Thanks Jones, please join me?”

“Sure, boss.”

 

When they arrived at the crime scene, Peter had to swallow the bile rising in his throat. These victims were not killed, they were executed. They were all dressed in the same white clothing and professionally killed with two shots.

“You think, these people were linked to Bonamis?”

“CSU is busy searching the scene, but yeah, I think he got rid of everyone that was a liability.”

“Have you found Neal?”

“No, not as far as we could see, but some of the bodies were shot in the face, so we will have to wait for the fingerprints and DNA results.”

“You will let me know?” Peter looked with a hardened look at Ruiz.

“Of course.”

 

When Jones drove back to the office, Peter was forming a plan in his head. If Neal was not yet found, he needed to keep looking, it could mean that he was still alive, he couldnt give up now, Neal needed him He had to go undercover and see what Cindy knew. But he first had to take care of El and Neal. He couldn´t risk these people to find his family.

 

* * *

 

“Does it hurt?” Cindy asked sounding concerned.

When Neal didn´t answer, she just put her hand on his foot and pressed down. Neal let out a moan.

“Answer me pet. I asked if it hurt?”

“Yes, Mommy.” Neal gritted through his teeth.

“Good, I will ask Frank to take care of it, he has this wonderful ointment, that will help with the discomfort. I want you to tell me when you are in discomfort, so I can take care of it, OK. Mommy will take good care of you.”

Neal turned his head towards Cindy, and although he couldn´t see her, he tried to bring as much hatred over in his facial expression as possible.

“Now, now, baby. You know Mommy loves you.” Cindy tangled her fingers in Neal´s hair and suddenly gripped it and pulled it back, so Neal was facing her.

“You know Mommy likes to hurt you, but do you know who I like to hurt more? Granddaughters of landladies. I would love to take them with me to the playroom and see what I can do with them. See, if Samantha suffers as beautifully as you do.”

Neal stiffened.

“Oh, now you are listening to Mommy? Did you think I wouldn´t find out, Neal?”

She could see all the emotions going through Neal. She saw that she hit a sensitive spot. Good, that was what she was aiming for.

“I will tell you what, if you be a good little pet to me, and I know you can do it, as I saw it before, I will leave the people you care about alone, if not…”

Cindy could see in Neal ´s body language that he admitted defeat; he looked like he deflated. Cindy had the collar of Taylor replaced with one of her own posture collars, she wouldn´t need the drugs. She knew that Neal would come to his senses and stay with her voluntarily, if he knew what was best for his loved ones.

She attached a leash to the D-ring on the posture collar, it gave Neal a nice look, keeping his chin high and his neck extended. She looked at him, maybe she should make him ware a corset; he would look good in one.

She asked Frank to feed pet today as she had an appointment at the club, she was interviewing doms for her club, as one of her top doms was getting married and had resigned. She quickly got dressed and had her chauffeur drive her to the city.

 

* * *

 

Cindy had seen three men and a woman for the position, but none of them spoke to her. A lot of people thought they were doms, because they played a bit in the bedroom, but Cindy was looking for something different. Her doms were naturals, they were the best, that was why her club was so successful.

She was ready to call it a day and go out for lunch, when her assistant told her there was another candidate. So she got up and walked to the waiting room. The man sitting there immediately attracted her. He was tall and broad shouldered and he demanded attention just by the way he carried himself. Cindy walked up to him.

“Cindy Coleman.” She extended her hand.

“Peder Boyd.” He shook her hand firmly.

“Peter Boyd?” Cindy repeated.

“No, Peder, with a D.”

“I´m sorry, Peder, with a D. So you are applying for the dom position in this club.”

“Yes, it would be an honor to work in such a prestigious club.” Peter looked Cindy in the eye.

“Let´s start with a tour through the club, shall we, and maybe you can tell me a bit about your subs.”

“That would be lovely.” Peter followed Cindy when she walked out of the waiting room.

The first couple of rooms were more common rooms, more like a bar and restaurant than a SM club, so Cindy walked through those. The next one was for designed as an operating room for medical fetishists.

“Are you into this sort of play.”

“Not particularly, I am more into mindfucks, puppy, pony, gun play that sort of kinks. I don´t do romans, showers, or other bodily fluids.” Peter said without hesitation.

“Interesting…” Cindy said, while walking into the next room.

She led him through all the rooms, some of them had people in them, but they didn´t intrude and Cindy wanted to see Peder´s reaction to them. It only aroused him by the looks of it. She was intrigued. Peder seemed like the real deal.

“Tell me why you want to do this for a living, or did you perform in other clubs before?”

“No, I didn´t, there was a change in my personal life that made me look for new challenges.”

“Care to elaborate?” Cindy was curious. He was quite the personality and she wanted to know more about him.

“I took my partner in hand a couple of years ago, but it didn´t last, he couldn´t coop with the 24/7 deal, and he wanted out.”

Cindy was delighted; this was the man she was looking for.

“Tell you what, Peder, you come back tonight and do a scene, and I will decide after the scene whether you are our new dom. Congratulations to making it to round two. Anne will see you out.”

She shook his hand and walked away.

She watched Peder leave on the camera feeds. He got in a black Tesla. This could be the real deal, she would see what he was made off tonight.

 

* * *                                   

 

Peter had never been so relieved to be able to go back to the office. No, he couldn´t go back to the office, he would have to go to his new apartment. He needed a drink, so he stopped at a random bar and had a drink; He couldn´t go back home or to the office, he was now Peder Boyd. They had constructed the undercover operation with care in the limited time they had. They even had an agent that would testify that he had been Peter´s sub for several years, if they needed it.

Peter couldn´t jeopardize El and Neal, they were brought out of town under protection in a safe house far from here. They had rented an apartment for him, something fancy in a top location building on one of the top floors. His background made him an heir to old money, who had never needed to work, he did however had some disturbing kinks. And as Peder Boyd didn´t need to work, he could be in a 24/7 BDSM relationship. He had been brought up to speed in the language by a Vice agent, Peter had felt uncomfortable when he heard some of the terms explained to him, wondering if he could ever pull this off.

While he had his second drink, he was worrying about tonight. What would he have to do in the club? He needed to keep in mind that these subs did this because they loved it, they paid for it. And he was doing this for the greater good, so he couldn´t be selfish.

 

* * *

 

That night Peter returned to the club around eleven. He was dressed in black fitting jeans, a black shirt with the collar open and black dress shoes, no watch, no jewelry. Cindy looked approvingly when he entered the club.

“A drink?”

“ Macallan.”

Cindy snapped her fingers and a glass of champagne and whiskey were placed in front of them. She wore a black dress that seemed to have been sewn onto her. She looked gorgeous.

“Ready for some action?”

“Sure, while the sub be male or female?”

“What do you prefer?”

“I can service both, but I am natural attracted to male subs.” Peter had thought about it, and it seemed easier to hurt a man than a woman.

“A male it is. Follow me.”

They walked to the third floor and entered a room that was definitely equipped for puppy play. A young man was sitting on his knees with his head bowed in the middle of the room.

“Here is your pet, have fun.” And with that, Cindy left the room.

Peter had to pull all his courage together to walk into the room. He knew he was probably monitored by cameras, so he started circling the man. He could see the tension built in the man´s muscles. While circling, he looked at the room, there was a wall with all sort of toys, plugs and floggers. The man was only wearing a dog collar and what looked like a leather hood that was made to look like a dog head.

Peter stopped in front of him and grabbed the man´s chin and lifted it.

“Good boy. I see you already have a tag on your collar, slut.” Peter emphasized the name.

Peter could see the man getting aroused just by talking to him. Hopefully he could keep it up.

“You are a pretty slut, aren´t you? You will safeword in colors, green means go, yellow means to be careful and red is stop. If I ask color, you will tell me what color. Is that understood?”

The man nodded.

“Color?”

“Green”

“Good.”

Peter clicked the lease on the dog collar and pulled the man towards him.

 

* * *

 

When the hour was over, Peter had a feeling that the session had demanded more from him than from the sub. He left the room when one of the club workers entered to provide after care and walked back to the bar. He could see that Cindy was already waiting for him.

She placed a glass of whiskey in front of him.

“How did it go?”

“Good, he performed well.”

Cindy excused herself when her cell rang. She talked for a minute and disconnected the line, bending over the bar and taking the envelope that was behind it. She handed it to Peter.

“Your wage for the session.”

“I assume the customer was satisfied.” Peter gave a small smile.

“He said you were the best he´s had in a long time. Welcome to Club Noir.”

 

_To be continued…_


	14. Master is back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live in a country where prostitution is (partially) legal, and I have no idea how the legal system looks upon it in the United States and how warrants work. Unlike Neal, I didn´t ready Warrant law. So all mistakes are mine.

Dom Peder gained quite the name for himself in Club Noir. Cindy was turned on by Peder, she seemed to have found the white raven among doms. Peder was so natural, she couldn´t believe he didn´t have a private business. Her clients fought over Peder´s slots at the club.

It was Wednesday night and she scrolled through the appointments on her tablet, Peder´s slots were as always booked. She noticed that someone was standing in front of her, so she looked up.

“Oh, hi Taylor, The feds let you go?”

“Hi Cindy, thanks for helping out. They couldn´t make anything stick, so I´m out. Thought I could come over and play a bit here, as I have no pets at the moment.”

“Yeah, sure, no problem, as long as you didn´t bring any feds with you. I have a new girl that needs to be broken in, interested?”

“Absolutely, that makes me wonder, how is pet?”

“He is doing wonderful.”

“What else do you have tonight on special?”

“You could watch the new dom, he is fabulous, I guess you will enjoy seeing him work. He has a nine o´clock appointment.”

“Nah, I don´t want to watch tonight, I want to play myself.”

Cindy could see that Taylor looked tense.

“I can give you room four with Sophia as sub, as I said before, I would like to see how far she is willing to go. But I don´t want any permanent damage done, understood?”

“I´ll take it.” Taylor smiled.

 

* * *

 

Peter had been on duty tonight and was just ready, so he walked down to the bar and met up with Cindy, who handed him his earnings for tonight.

“Thanks Peder. I will see you again of Friday, right?”

“Sure thing, Cindy.” Peter downed the drink Cindy had handed him and left the club.

He was exhausted and just wanted to go home. He had never thought being a dom would take this much investment, physically and emotionally. On the other hand, he had come to understand the attraction. He could see the tension in some of his subs when they started, and by the time they ended a session, all worldly problems had been left behind, and they were focused again. It was a way to leave everything behind them. The sub didn´t have to make decisions, he could let go of everything and the dom would take care of him. He also wouldn´t have expected to be so comfortable around these people, but he was.

The only frustrating thing was that he was still no closer to finding Neal. Neal was definitely not at the club. Now that he was a regular, he had access to all the rooms and backrooms, so he was sure, there was nobody kept against their will in the club. So if Neal was still alive, and Peter was starting to doubt it, he was held somewhere else, probably Cindy´s house. The only problem was; which house? She ran the BDSM club in such a way that everybody could prove they did this without pay. She just rented out rooms, nothing illegal with that. Peter didn´t want to spook her with a warrant based on the act that she paid him for sexual activities. Hell, he didn´t have sex with these people, so there was not really anything to grant a warrant to search her homes.

When he left the front entrance of the Club, his breath hitched, Taylor´s car was in front of the Club. This was not good, when had he been released and why wasn´t he told.

Peter quickly got in the Tesla and drove off to his apartment.

 

* * *

 

Taylor had had enough, the girl was silently sobbing at the moment. He got dressed and called in one of the club workers and left.

“Where is this golden boy you are referring to?” he asked Cindy.

“He already left, I didn´t get the impression you were interested, so I told him he could go.”

“I want pet back, I have nobody to play with.” Taylor sounded like a child whose favorite toy was taken away.

“I don´t think that is a good idea, you know that the feds are still looking to pin something on you.” Cindy stated matter of factly.

“OK, then I want to visit him.”

“I don´t think so, Taylor, you are not coming over. The feds can´t pin anything on me, otherwise they would have done so already. So stay away from my house.”

Taylor looked at Cindy in anger.

“I mean it Taylor, Stay away, I have no problems with you coming to the club, I will make sure there is always someone available, the feds know you have strange kinks, so it is not strange that you visit this club, but if you come to my house, I will be forced to take drastic measures.”

“I´m sorry, you are right.” Taylor looked resigned.

“Tell you what, come to the club and play here, if I think it is safe, I will bring pet over and you can play here. Is that a plan?”

“Thanks Cindy. I owe you.”

“That you do, Taylor.” Cindy said coldy.

 

* * *

 

When Peter arrived home, he immediately got out the secure telephone and called the bureau. They could only confirm that Taylor was let go and that there had been a mix up in the paperwork and Peter hadn´t been informed.

“You realize I almost ran into him at Cindy´s club? He would have recognized me.” he shouted angry.

After finishing the conversation, he let out his breath and took a drink. He needed to wrap up this case, it was eating him and had him on edge, he wanted to see El and Neal.

He was just getting ready to go to bed, when the house telephone rang. It was the doorman, telling him he had a female visitor called Cindy Coleman.

“Let her in, please.” Peter´s mind was racing, what was she here for? But before he could think further, the doorbell chimed.

“Cindy, what brings you here? Please enter.” Peter smiled.

“I want to discuss your position in the Club.” Cindy said pleasantly. Cindy walked around in the large living room. “You have quite the apartment.”

“I like it, it has the privacy I needed.” Peter said with a menacing smile.

Peter could see that Cindy wanted something from him, she walked up to him, until she was standing in his personal space.

“You want something to drink? Some champagne perhaps, I have some Moët Rosé.”

“Rosé, that would be lovely, I will have a glass.”

Peter walked over to the large kitchen and sensed that she followed him. He walked up to the large glass wine cooler, where his champagne was stored and took one of the Moëts. He could see that Cindy approved of his stock of champagnes and wines.

“You know Peder, you have proven to be quite the dom, you are the favorites of all my clients, I have more request than I can honor, are you interested in making more hours?”

“Wow, Cindy, I´m flattered. But I would like to concentrate on the more difficult clients, like Gerome, he has special needs I understood from his current dom. I already discussed it and I don´t mind taking over Gerome.”

“Good, take care of it, I appreciate it.”

They had a drink on the terrace of the apartment and when the wind picked up and it got chilly, Cindy moved closer to Peter.

“You want a throw?” Peter asked.

“Maybe you can warm me?” Cindy said seductively.

“I´m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, I really like you and I can service both men and women, but my preference in a relationship are men.” Peter tried to look at his sincerest.

“No, don´t be sorry, you told me before that you were in a relationship with a man, but I guess, I hoped you were bi.”

“I´m not.”

“No offence taken.”

They went back inside and Cindy told Peter she was calling it a night.

“It was fun, I enjoyed talking to someone with the same interests, maybe we can do it again.” Peter suggested.

“Yeah, next time, come over to my place.” Cindy suggested.”Tell you what, come over to my place on Friday when you are finished at the club.”

“It will be my pleasure.”

He walked Cindy back to her car, where her driver was waiting for her. He kissed her on the hand and waved when the car drove off. And while he took the elevator back up, Peter was thinking that this could be the break he had been waiting for.

 

_To be continued…_

 


	15. Meeting the collector

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neal is not in this short chapter, but he will be in the next chapter.

Peter had been anxiously looking forward to Friday, maybe this was the break they had been waiting for. He was anxious when he entered the club. He had been careful before he got out of his car, checking to make sure Taylor´s car was not there.

He had expected to see Cindy, but he was informed that she wasn´t at the club and she had left a message with the address where they would meet.

Peter checked in the appointment list who was his next client and it turned out to be a couple he had serviced before. The man was a powerful CEO of a big financial corporation and needed to relief stress while his wife enjoyed watching her husband being handled by another man. On the outside they were a couple like he met on so many occasions when El planned a high society event. Who knew this is what these couples did on Friday night?

He kissed them both and told them they had room ten for the next two hours.

 

* * *

 

When he was done, and this one had been a very demanding session, Madame had demanded quite a lot of both men, he took his bag out of his locker and took a hot shower. He got dressed in a fancy tailored suit, El and Neal would probably have approved. He looked at himself in the mirror and had to admit, the suit made him look good. He decided to not wear a tie and quickly left the club, driving to the address given to him.

When he arrived at the address, it turned out to be a nice old Limestone mansion. Peter walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. The door was opened by a butler who showed Peter to the study and asked Peter to wait for Cindy.

On a side table there was a terrarium, so Peter walked over to see what was inside, it was an albino snake with blue eyes. It was a magnificent animal.

While Peter sat down in one of the sofas, a brown French bulldog with blue eyes came happily running towards Peter.

“Hey, little fellow.” He scratched the dog behind his ears. God, he missed Satchmo and his family.

“Welcome Peder, I see you met Max.” the dog happily walked up to Cindy.

“Let´s go into the dining room, it is already late and dinner is almost ready”

When they entered the dining room, the butler asked if Peter wanted an aperitif.

“Some red Porto, please.”

“Certainly, sir.”

 

* * *

 

They had a relaxing delicious dinner; it had been a long time since Peter had eaten that good. Since he had been undercover, he had lived on take-out and the food they served at the Club, which was excellent, but this was even more exquisite. He stopped eating there, now that he knew he could run into Taylor.

They were having drinks afterwards in the living room, when Peter saw a cat walking over the furniture, it was one of those beige ones with dark brown paws, what was it called again, wait a Burmese cat. When the cat came closer, Peter could see that it had piercing blue eyes.

Now that he thought about it, all the staff of Cindy had blue eyes. Could it be coincidence?

“So tell me a bit more about your 24/7 relationship. I could never commit myself to such a relationship myself as I have a business to run, but I am intrigued. What made you chose for that lifestyle?”

“Well, it is a part of me, of who I am. I am very possessive by nature, it is one of my flaws. I like being in total control and I like the idea that I can dominate a human life 24/7. For some reason it comes natural to me. So when I met Louis, I knew he was mine. And mine alone, I couldn´t let him out in the real world. So I put my manacle around him and took him in hand.”

“I know what you mean.” Cindy said without elaborating.

Peter was staring in his cognac glass. “I really miss him, you know. I am glad that I can work at the club, because sometimes, it feels like a piece of me is missing.”

Cindy studied Peter, he looked genuine, could she risk bringing him up to speed? She could use a dom like Peter at the parties she hosted, where the subs were a little less voluntarily. People paid a lot of money for the monthly party she threw where the participants could have every wish met by the subs.

“You really miss the 24/7 thing, don´t you?”

“Yes, I am not very social in the real world. I enjoy my time at the club. Maybe I should take you up on the more hours.”

“Sure, the hours are yours, I can have them filled right away if you want.” Cindy smiled. She had to take the risk.

“I can meet your needs, but before I talk about them, I need you to sign a confidentiality contract.”

“OK, no problem, I understand that not all things that happen are completely within the law, I knew that from the moment I started working for you, so, OK.” Peter tried to look confident with a bit of hesitation.

Cindy produced a contract and Peter signed only glancing at it, this is was probably the moment he had been waiting for.

“So, you think you can meet my needs, what are you suggesting?”

“I have some pets in my private collection that need training, would you be interested?”

“I´m sorry? You know I don´t do animals.” Peter looked confused at the cat that was lying in his lap.

“No, you silly boy, I mean my ´pets´, my subs that are 24/7 with me. I told you I can´t commit to a 24/7 relationship, I never said I didn´t have pets. I have a trainer who takes care of them, but I think you would make a better trainer for the more difficult ones.”

“I would get to take care of your personal pets?”

“That would be the idea, I can´t pay them all the attention I should, my trainer takes care of their health and daily needs, but for their other needs…, that is why you come in. I would pay you good, better than the club.”

“I´m not doing this for the money, but I would be interested in taking care of some subs on a more permanent basis.”

“You realize this is not the occasional playing around, do you? This is the more serious stuff. Some pets stay at my house. I also can use a dom for the more exclusive parties at the club. You have heard about the monthly soirees that are by invitation only? I could use you as a dom at those parties.”

“Sounds like a deal. When do I start?”

 

 

_To be continued…_


	16. Finding Neal

Peter had just taken a shower, when his cell rang. He had spent yesterday evening and night at the bureau, debriefing what he knew so far to the tactical team. When he looked at the caller ID it showed Cindy.

“Hi Cindy, what´s up?”

“Isn´t that something I should ask you?”

“Oh, the FBI visiting the club you mean? They were looking for someone called Taylor Bonamis. Someone you know?”

“I was informed that you took care of the ledger and explained to them that we only rented out playrooms. I just wanted to check up on you because I was told you spent the night in jail being questioned.”

Peter noticed that she hadn´t responded to his question about Taylor.

“Yeah, no problem, my lawyer took care of everything and they couldn´t charge me with anything. I just explained I was a regular and that I sometimes took care of the rent money when you were not around.”

“I will send my car for you, I want you to come over to my place instead of the club. We need to discuss some things.”

“Fine, I´m at home.”

“Good, my driver is waiting for you downstairs.”

“OK, I´ll get ready. See you soon.” Peter disconnected the line and went into the bedroom to pack a weekend bag. He placed his gun in a hidden compartment of the bag, placing some toys along to conceal the added weight. He called his handler to let the FBI know he was taken to one of Cindy´s homes. He was wearing the fake Rolex, so the FBI was able to track him.

He then made his way downstairs and got in the Maybach.

 

* * *

 

“Welcome Peder.” Cindy have him a peck on the cheek and ushered him in. The home Cindy had referred to, was upstate and was located in the middle of a large estate that had heavy protection. Peter had seen the high fences and guards when they drove up to the house.

“Marie here will show you to your room. When you are settled, please join me in the study.”

Peter was led to his room, which turned out to be a very large and spacious room. He placed his bag on a chair and walked back out, looking for the study.

“Peder! We are over here.”

Peter walked into the study, where Cindy was reposing in a chair and next to her feet, was a young man kneeling. The man was looking straight at Peter, as he was wearing a large posture collar. The leash was attached to Cindy´s chair.

“And, what do you think? This is Richard, he is one of my favorites. He knows when to behave when we have company, don´t you Richard.”

The man stayed silent, and in perfect posture.

“I see he is well trained, my compliments.”

“Are you hungry? I have requested a late lunch.” They got up and walked into the dining room. “Richard hasn´t eaten yet, so you may start you duties right now. If I have a pet who has been good, they are handfed, if they were bad, they have to eat out of the bowl.”

It was only now that Peter saw the dog bowl next to the table.

Cindy handed Peter the leash and sat down. Peter gave a gentle pull on the leash and Richard quickly kneeled next to Peter.

Peter paid attention to feed Richard enough, while he was eating himself. When they were done Cindy told him to take Richard with him, as she would show him the playroom and the pet room.

When they were standing in the pet room, Peter could see a cage, so he placed Richard inside and asked if Cindy could show him the other rooms he needed to know about.

Cindy showed him all the common rooms and explained about the security on the premises. She told him that her favorite pet could stay in her bedroom while the rest slept in their cages in the pet stables.

“I have an important call to make, can you tend to Richard, please? I want him ready to play with.”

“Sure.” Peter left Cindy and walked back to the pet room.

When Peter entered the pet room, he could see Richard backing up in the cage. Understandingly as he didn´t know what to expect from the visitor, what had they done to the man?

“Come over here, now!.” Peter did his best to sound stern. He couldn´t risk that Cindy was watching him on camera.

The man scrambled to the door of the cage and let him attach the leash to his collar. Peter pulled him to his feet and let him to the playroom.

He made the man kneel and then took a length of rope and started binding Richard´s arms, shibari style. He took a small flogger and teased him until had had an impressive erection and then placed a cock ring. He finished the picture with a ball gag and then attached the collar to a piece of rope, so the man had to stay in the position Peter had placed him in. Peter left him like that and went to look for Cindy.

“He´s waiting for you Cindy, I hope you like him the way I left him for you. Is it OK if I look around and get a bit of fresh air? It is refreshing to be out of the city, it has been a while. I thought I saw stables.”

“You ride? Feel free to take one of the horses.”

“I will, thanks.”

Peter went to the stables and looked around, the stable master came up to him and Peter explained that it had been a while that he had been riding, so the stable master told him he would get a good horse for him. While Peter waited for the horse to be prepared he walked along the stables to see some magnificent animals. But one horse caught his eye, a pinto horse with blue yes.

“Something wrong?”, the stable master asked.

“No, I just never saw a horse with blue eyes before.”

“Madame has a thing for blue eyes, sir, you will find a lot more animals on the premises with blue eyes. I made Kizzy ready for you, she is a gentle mare, you will like her.”

Peter left the stables and found Kizzy waiting for him outside, he mounted her and rode into the woods.

 

* * *

 

Cindy was taking the call in her bedroom and looked at pet. He was a picture of misery, chained to a steel pole in her room. She had a feeling that he still had hope, she couldn´t use that. She would see how Peder was doing with her other pets. This one was too precious to her. She wasn´t even willing to give him back to Taylor, maybe Peder could train him.

She opened her laptop and opened the email that was just received. Attached were several pictures of Samantha. She opened them and walked over to Neal.

“I see that you are still not completely sure about how serious I am, are you? Remember Master and what he did to you. Here let me show you some pictures. Oh, that´s right, you can´t see. Well I will describe to you what is on the pictures.”

“I see Samantha at her school and Taylor is standing not even five foot from her. Oh, this one is even better, it is Samantha having lunch with her friends, they all look so innocent, I think my clients would have a blast with them. I can have her picked up right away, do you want that?”

Neal shook his head. He couldn´t even let his head hang with the posture collar he was wearing.

“Good boy, so you will do as Mommy tells you?”

Neal nodded. He had no way of knowing if she really had the pictures and if Taylor was there with Samantha, but he couldn´t risk it.

“Mommy has a new trainer, he is good, you will like him, he enjoys training difficult pets. You will meet him soon enough, but now, I will give you some endurance training myself.”

Cindy detached Neal´s leash and pulled him to his feet. He couldn´t hide the whimpered that escaped him when the blood rushed back into his legs.

His hands were already bound behind his back with a pair of stainless steel manacles that keep his wrists immobilized. Next Cindy attached a piece of rope on the D-ring of his collar and pulled him up, so he had to balance on his toes. She gently licked his nipples until they were erect and then placed clover clamps on them. She could hear Neal´s breathe hitch. The chain between them was attached to the rope, so if he thought of lowering his heels, he would pull on the clamps. She knew that the position she placed Neal in was trying, she could see the tension in his body. She gently stroked him and could see through his pants that he was getting hard.

“That is a good boy, you look so beautiful. Now Mommy is going to take care of business, I will be back soon, precious.”

 

* * *

 

Cindy took care of some business that couldn´t wait and asked a staff member where Peder was. She was told that he went horseback riding but that he had left Richard for her in the playroom. She entered the playroom to find Richard in a wonderful Shibari binding, so she left him like that, he could endure a bit more.

When she was done, she went back to her bedroom and saw that Neal hadn´t been able to maintain his position and that he had pulled off the clamps, his nipples had bled a few drops and she licked them off, while Neal groaned.

“You were a bad boy, I will need to punish you, but not now. She untied the collar and dragged him with her into the playroom where Richard was waiting. She then tied him to one of the poles that where there, placing a dog bowl with water next to him, then walking over to play with Richard while Neal had to listen to Richard´s cries and eventually begging, before she turned her attention to Neal.

 

* * *

 

The next day, Cindy had to go back to the city but before she left, she took care of Neal.

He was made to sit in a chair. When he sat down, he heard someone enter the room.

“Keno, I want you to wrap pet. You can leave his nose and mouth free. Make it a pretty picture, I have seen you do it before.”

She could see Neal getting anxious as he didn´t know what was going to happen. She placed earplugs in his ears, so he would be able to hear anything. It would only add to his anxiety.

Keno started to work with patches and fiber glass and soon, Neal was casted in, he was completely set in a cast, except for his mouth and nose. He couldn´t see, hear or feel anything in the cast.

Keno looked proudly at Cindy, who smiled coldly and thanked Keno for his services. She made an appointment for him to come to the club. She kissed Neal on the mouth and left.

 

* * *

She saw Peder downstairs and told him she needed to go to the club and she was taking her trainer with her, so he should take care of the pets in the pet stables.

Once she had left the house, Peter went out to see what she had mend with the pet stables, so he walked towards the horse stables and only then noticed there was a second floor. When he entered it, he was dumbstruck, there were at least ten cages with people in it, all blue eyed men and women. He quickly walked past all the cages but no Neal. He could see most of them cowering away, except for a couple who sat in perfect posture in the middle of their cage.

Peter could see that all the cages had drinking and eating facilities, so he looked around and could see that food and drinks had been brought in, probably by the kitchen staff. He quickly distributed all the food and drinks and then went back to the house.

Peter made his way to the pet room, which was a sort of hospital room like that had found at Taylor´s home, but there were no pets held, he then walked over to the playroom, but it was empty as well. He then walked over to Cindy´s bedroom, he carefully opened the door and slipped in.

There was someone sitting in a chair.

“Hello?”

The person gave no reaction. He walked up to the person and was taken aback a bit, the sub had been placed in a full body cast. He was breathing, but there was nothing Peter could do for this sub, except for giving him some water with a syringe, as the person inside couldn´t move anything and wasn´t able to drink from a bottle.

“Are you OK?”

No reaction. Peter was again surprised about the amount of strange things Cindy could think off to submit her subs to, but he had to admit, the person inside looked sort of peaceful, maybe it was sort of comforting and relaxing, not being able to move and just stay until your mistress came back.

Peter left the room and went to the living room, thinking about what to do. Neal was not here. Maybe this was a hopeless search, maybe Taylor had gotten rid of Neal on the first sign of trouble. He was getting conflicted, he didn´t know what to do. Stay here and keep looking for Neal, go back to the city and get the warrant for what he had seen here and save these people? It would mean Neal´s chances were reduced to zero.

He finally made a decision, the subs looked well taken care of, some had some welts, but nothing that would permanently mark, and they were well fed, Peter saw that when he handed over the food. He would first have a closer look at the house, before making any drastic decisions.

 

* * *

 

Mommy had played rough the day before, she also had another pet in the room, called Richard. Neal hadn´t noticed when she was done, he had subspaced somewhere along the way and woke up on his dog bed in her bedroom. He could feel that they had given him something to take the edge of and he also could feel some ointment on the welts on his buttocks.

Neal was still in dubio, with his hands tied behind his back or in mittens, he couldn´t reach the contacts and blind as he was, he could never escape fast enough to make it out of the house. And Mommy had made it clear that if he escaped, she would have her revenge on Samantha, he couldn´t risk that, he just couldn´t. He could endure this, if this is the sacrifice he had to make to keep Samantha safe, so be it.

That morning, he had been fed by Mommy herself in her bedroom, normally she took him into the dining room, so maybe there were guests. When she had made sure he had eaten and drinking enough, he was lead to the facilities to relieve himself. Afterwards he was told to take a seat in chair. He hurt to sit down, but he guessed that was Cindy´s purpose, to make him uncomfortable.

Neal immediately noticed that someone entered the room.

“Keno, I want you to wrap pet. You can leave his nose and mouth free. Make it a pretty picture, I have seen you do it before.”

Wrap pet, leave mouth and nose free? What was Cindy planning? Neal couldn´t help tensing up, while Keno started to work, and then suddenly, something was stuffed in his ears and all Neal could hear was his heart beating.

Neal could feel Keno place patches on his body and gauze wrappings and then something that was more constricting.

And suddenly it hit him, he was placed in a cast. His dread increased, what was she planning? Until now, no devices were placed on him and he could feel that his mouth and nose were left free, so he could breath. It wasn´t uncomfortable, except for the inability to move.

When Keno was done, he startled a bit when Cindy pressed a kiss on his mouth. And then he was left alone.

After a while Neal realized that this was even worse torture than being physically tortured. Being left alone with only your thoughts, not being able to move anything. What was Cindy doing, was she still there, probably not, hence the kiss. What if she was going after Samantha to make her point?

If he was physically capable he would have jumped, when he felt something between his lips. It was plastic, probably a syringe. He first hesitated to swallow what he was fed, until he noticed it was water.

He couldn´t sense anything from the person, was it Cindy or the new trainer? But he was left alone again with his thoughts which grew darker and scarier with time passing.

_To be continued…_


	17. The Soiree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter of the collector is the most explicit until now, so be warned, this chapter describes non consensual and BDSM acts, if you don´t like this kind of thing, please don´t read.

A week had passed and Cindy was impressed with how well Peder was taking care of her pets. He was courteous, polite, a real gentlemen in real life, but she had to admit, even as a dom, he was always looking out for his subs. He was no sadist, or got his kicks out of humiliation people, he was the real deal.

A week ago, when she had arrived back home, she had looked at the camera feeds and had seen Peder entering her bed room, but he had only given pet some water and then had left, he hadn´t snooped around, so that was OK. He had done what he was supposed to, take care of her pets.

When her regular trainer had released Neal from the cast, he had been in sort of a shock. He hadn´t really reacted to anything that night. She had given him a light sedation with his dinner and taken him into her bed that night. He had curled up against her before he had been dragged under by the drugs. Good, he needed to know who was in charge.

Tomorrow, she had her monthly party for a select group of clients and maybe it was a nice moment to introduce Neal to this kind of entertainment, that way, Taylor could see that she was taking good care of him. She had promised it and she didn´t want to get in a fight with Taylor over a pet, even if he had lead the feds to her Club.

She asked Peter to join her and explained her plans. They would take Richard, Christine and pet. Peder looked confused at Cindy.

“Pet? Does he have a name?”

“This one is my personal favorite, so no, he is referred to as pet. I guess you met pet already, he was the one in the body cast in my bedroom. I take care of him myself, but during the party, you will prepare them.”

“No problem, when will they be brought to the club?”

Around ten, it will give you two hours to prepare them. I want you there when they arrive.”

“Of course, no problem.”

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Cindy was called by Taylor, he needed to talk to her right away in the club. He sounded anxious and determined, so she packed her stuff and left for the city.

When she arrived, Taylor was pacing the room. “You know who your new dom is? It is PETER BURKE!, the agent that raided my home.”

Cindy was taken aback for a moment, but kept her cool. “You sure?”

“Of course I´m sure, what do you think? That I´m stupid? This guy arrested me.”

“OK, no stress, we will take care of him and Neal in one go. We will have them play together at the party.” Cindy smiled cruelly thinking of the possibilities. “Make sure that a tech looks at the scrambling unit, I want to make sure we can jam whatever signal agent Burke is sending his people. Oh, and Taylor, don´t show yourself to Burke, OK? I don´t want to spook him.”

I will ask Eric to prepare pet and Peter to prepare Christine and Richard.

 

* * *

 

When Neal roused, he felt that he was stuffed inside something, he startled when somebody grabbed him and pulled him up. He hadn´t heard the person. It was only then that he realized that Mommy must have used the earplugs again. He was lifted and carried somewhere and then placed on his feet. He wavered a bit, but managed to stay up.

He could feel the now familiar feel of a wooden plank, being fastened around his neck, it would prevent him dropping down or moving his head for that matter. Then his arms were pulled apart and fastened away from his body and so were his ankles. He couldn´t move much this way.

Now that he thought about it, there was something over his face, probably a leather hood or something. The person that restrained him was strong and bigger than him by the feel of it. He felt hands moving over his body, inspecting him.

 

* * *

 

Peter arrived at the club as instructed by Cindy to take care of the three subs that were moved here for the party. He had a bad feeling about tonight. Before he had left the house, he had contacted the FBI to let them know where he was and what was going on. The would be on standby for the take down. He was wearing the fake Rolex, he had been wearing it for a couple of weeks now, so everything was being recorded. They had enough evidence to arrest Cindy, but he still didn´t have any clue on the whereabouts of Neal. He had tried to see who this pet of Cindy was, but she had kept him from him, he would see the sub tonight at the club. A SWAT team was on standby and they would raid the club if Peter said the activation phrase.

When the three boxes arrived, Peter was shocked; he had expected a lot of things, but not wooden transportation crates. He opened the locks and opened the lid, the people inside didn´t move, but he realized that the subs had been sedated, so they hadn´t made the trip conscious, but still. They were all wearing a leather hood and were still dressed in the white clothing they wore at Cindy´s home, except for pet. He was instructed to change Christine and Richard in pony gear, pet was already some leather harness.

Pet moaned, so Peter touched him while talking in a soothing voice, trying to be reassuring, but he startled badly. Peter assumed it had to be the lingering effects of the drugs. He had been instructed to restrain pet on a stage. He had seen the stage before and there were comfortable chairs in front of it, so people could watch the show.

Peter had determined for himself that he would wait to say the activation phrase to his colleagues until after the ´guests´ had arrived, that way they could take out a lot of people in one arrest. He had already said the standby code when the boxes had arrived, so he knew the team was ready to raid the club.

For now he lifted the man out of the box and carried him center stage. When he placed the man on his feet, he staggered a bit, so Peter steadied him before fastening a stock around the man´s neck. The plank was held up in sort of frame, the man´s wrists were fastened to the sides as so were his ankles.

He let his hands glide over the man´s back in an attempt to be comforting.

 

* * *

 

The guests started arriving and subs in full bondage gear were placed inside the room. They were objectified as tray tables with glasses of champagne and cognac.

When everybody had taken their seat, the soiree started, Cindy started with the girl, who was waiting in her pony gear. She had a full head gear and her feet and hands were placed in black leather shoes/gloves with copper hooves, Peter had to admit that they were crafted with care and looked beautiful. He shook his head, he had spent too much time with these people if he could enjoy the look, or did he? On top of the bit in her mouth there were black feathers and on her nipple clamps were little bells that jingled when she moved, the butt plug had a real tail. Peter led her up to the little carriage and fastened her harness to it. Cindy walked over and took a seat on the carriage and used the whip to get the girl to start walking. The people applauded when Cindy entered the stage area.

The girl was praised and Peter unfastened her for the little carriage. Cindy placed Christine in a treat mill like they train horses with, the only difference was that she had a dildo inside her that was attached to the machine. The little bells jingling while she walked. Some guests happily using the whip on her when she was slowing down, or not trotting nice enough.

After the girl was placed on a spanking bank to rest, there was in intermezzo, subs in full bondage gear, hands restrained on their backs, a tray table in front of them with glasses of champagne and hors d´oeuvres, cigars, etc. walked between the invitees.

Nobody was allowed to touch the three subs that were tonight´s show unless Cindy said so.

When the intermezzo was over, two invitees were invited up the stage and to spank Christine. Peter really started doubting his decision to continue this, instead of saving these people.

When Christine started sobbing Cindy stopped the spanking and allowed some of the other guests to come onto the stage and handle her themselves, prodding and fondling her, swatting and inserting objects. Meanwhile Richard had been placed center stage in a pony outfit as well. Cindy made him hard and then ordered him to fuck Christine while the guests were giving wolf whistles and encouraging the two subs. The front row was allowed to use stock whips and snake whips.

Peter had been watching Cindy´s pet and was impressed by the self control Cindy´s pet had, he must be the real deal, because when the girl had screamed, the other sub had flinched, knowing what was to come. But pet hadn´t moved at all, he was just standing there, adjusting to the uncomfortable position, but when Peter gave him a short snap of the crop, he stayed still again.

What worried him, was that he said the second activation phrase before the intermezzo, but until know nothing had happened. He couldn´t take them done on his own, there were just too many and these were people not to mess with. He knew he wouldn´t stand a chance against them, not even with a weapon, they had too much to lose.

When Cindy was done with her second sub, she walked of the stage, allowing the others on again and play with Richard and Christine. Other subs had been brought in as well to entertain the guests during the second intermezzo.

“Peder, I want you to take care of pet. Give them a good show, all the toys are on the table. As the finale, I want you to fuck his face. First play with him a bit. Make it a good show.”

Peter´s concern now mounted, he hadn´t expected to have to go on stage and basically rape the man. When he worked in the club, the subs had submitted voluntarily. They had paid him to do the things he did to them. But this individual had been drugged to be brought here, there was nothing voluntarily about this.

“I wish I had brought my favorite whip with me tonight” Peter could only hope that this time, the team had received the message.

He didn´t see the cruel smile on Cindy´s face when she walked away to announce the end of the intermezzo.

Peter decided that this was it, he couldn´t do this, he was not planning on getting a non consensual blow job from a man. He turned around to leave to see where his team was, when two guys with drawn weapons coming towards him. And then his breath hitched, behind them was Taylor. He was made.

“If you want to save the three people on the stage, I would do what Cindy has asked you, otherwise, we will tell the crowd that anything goes. Do you want that?”

 

* * *

 

Peter had reluctantly entered the stage again and had played a bit with pet, while saying the activation code again and frantically searching for a way out without endangering the three subs. But he couldn´t see a way out.

Cindy entered the stage and took the flogger from Peter´s hands and told him to prepare pet so the audience could see how he fucked pet´s face. Peter until now had been hoping for the team to bust in. Cindy walked up and stood next to him and fondled the flagging erection he was sporting, it had started when he got aroused, seeing Christine, no it was partially anxiousness.

“I know you want to do this. Give us a show, big boy.”

“I´m sorry, I can´t Cindy, I am dominant, not a performer.” Peter tried taking a step back. But he could see on Cindy´s face that he was in serious problems.

“OK, no problem, he was a virgin until now, but I guess we will have to let that cherry be popped by one of our esteemed guests, maybe two, make sure he is comfortable when they take him dry.

“No, you can´t do that, Cindy.” Peter hissed back.

“Oh, but I can, so what will it be, agent Burke?” she whispered back.

Peter reluctantly freed his cock and shoved it into the sub´s open mouth. It didn´t take long, with Peter´s nerves and the crowd went wild when Peter pulled out and come dribbled out of the spread open mouth.

Peter was still standing next to the sub when she told Peter to remove the leather hood, so they could see what a gorgeous pain slut was underneath.

When Peter took the hood of, he froze. Neal!

But before he could react, the two men grabbed him and pulled his hands behind his back and fastened them, at the wrists and elbows.

“I knew you would like my pet. Isn´t he gorgeous?”

Peter could see that Neal had been crying, as his eyes were red and tears had already dried on his cheeks. His guilt eating away at him, why hadn´t he realized this before?

Peter was still struggling against the men holding him, when Cindy stuffed something in through the ring gag and pinched Neal´s nose shut. Peter realized she would suffocate him just to take revenge on him. They had known all along and probably jammed his transmission, that is why nobody came to their rescue. Peter was surprised to see that Neal held still, but for long, he started struggling, it was involuntarily, his body needed oxygen.

“Don´t Cindy, please, just let him go.”

Peter could see Neal´s face turning red and suddenly he went slack. Cindy let go. Again applause.

Cindy walked over to Peter in a slow but determined way and told the audience that they could rouse Neal. Immediately a couple of women and men got up and started slapping Neal. Peter could only look in horror when Neal gasped his way back into consciousness. He was dragged of the stage and Cindy followed. When they were behind the curtains, Peter could see Taylor waiting for them.

“Did you think, we wouldn´t find out? The FBI agent looking for his favorite pet?”

“Don´t do anything stupid, Taylor. I am a federal agent.”

Taylor took something out of his coat pocket, a small box and when he opened it, Peter could see it was a syringe, pre-filled with something. He wasn´t particular happy finding out what was in it, but before he could say anything, Taylor injected it in his upper arm and whatever was in the syringe, immediately dragged Peter under. He didn´t feel that he hit the floor.

 

_To be continued…_


	18. The rescue

When Peter finally fought his way back into awareness, he groaned, he was dizzy and nauseated. He tried to blink his surroundings into focus, but for some reason couldn´t. He searched his mind for what was going on. Had his alarm woken him, or his phone? No, wait he was somewhere, he…

The memory hit him like a freight train, Neal…, he lifted his head to look for Neal. He realized his was lying on his side on the floor somewhere in a furnished room, not some dump warehouse, where he had expected. Wait, he was still in the club, this was room number six. That made sense, with the police outside, they couldn´t have transported him out. He wanted to get up, but felt dizzy and let his head fall back to the cold floor. It felt good not to move.

When he finally felt up to it, he looked around and startled a bit when he realized Neal was in the same room.

“Neal” Peter whispered. NEAL!

For some reason Neal wasn´t reacting, his eyes were open and he was kneeling in this perfect posture, but he didn´t react to Peter. What had they done to him? Why didn´t he respond to his name?

Peter tried again to get up, only to have the room sway around him, he couldn´t contain his nausea and vomited. When he finally felt that he was able to, he tried again. He got on hands and knees and started crawling towards Neal. Only to be stopped about three feet from Neal. Even if he would stretch, he wouldn´t be able to touch Neal.

Peter slowly looked back and could see that his ankle was fastened by a chain to the wall. Why hadn´t he noticed? He blamed it on the drugs in his system. He really didn´t feel good and before he knew it, he slumped to the ground and passed out again.

 

* * *

 

When he was roused by a hard slap in his face, Neal was disoriented. What had happened? He tried to remember when the next stinging slap hit him. He realized he was still in the stock. Cindy had placed him there and was ´playing´ with him. Then it hit him, he had been face fucked by a man. So there was someone else beside Cindy, Taylor maybe? The man had pulled out from between the ring gag and then the hood had been taken off. Not that it really mattered, since he couldn´t see or hear anything. His anxiety however increased, not knowing what was going to happen next, but suddenly, the stock had been removed and he had been dragged away.

He was made to kneel and he could feel his collar being attached to something. His arms were bound behind his back above the elbows and at the wrists. He lost all sense of time, and started thinking, the man had a different scent from Taylor, it had to be someone else. He wanted to think of a way to get the contacts out, but he got distracted by the colors and lights flashes he saw, it had happened before and it was very distracting. He suddenly felt a thump, like something heavy falling near him. He couldn´t hear it, but he had felt it. But there was nothing he could do about it.

He could feel the presence of people around him and then a pinch in his upper arm and everything started feeling really good, really fast, until there was nothing.

 

* * *

 

Diana, Jones and the rest of the team had been waiting for Peter´s activation phrase. Peter had said that they needed to wait until he said they could come in, as he didn´t want to jeopardize the innocent subs inside. He told them there would be at least three people that didn´t go inside voluntarily, so the agents waited for the signal.

The waiting started to weight on everyone, but Diana told them to stand down. She had come over from DC on Peter´s request and was now leading the tactical team from the van while Jones was outside with the SWAT team.

They had lost sound at some point, but Diana wasn´t sure if Peter had turned the watch off to avoid being detected or if they were being jammed.

They had to rely on their contact on the inside to give a signal if case Peter was incapacitated.

 

* * *

 

Nobody had paid attention to the small eccentric guest that walked away when most of the guests made their way over to the stage where the two subs were placed.

He sneaked into the hallway and felt at the door knob, but it was locked. He carefully listened but didn´t hear anything. He quickly grabbed a lock pick set out of his pocket and opened the door, twisting himself through the opening and closing it behind him.

He squinted in the half dark, and saw two people lying on the floor. He quickly walked over and kneeled next to the closest person. The person was facing away from him and lying on his side. He could smell vomit, so he guessed the person had been sick. He gentle turned the man over onto his back and gave a small victorious but surprised sound.

“Peter. PETER!” he whispered, shacking Peter´s shoulder.

Peter gave a low moan, encouraging the man to start shacking harder; finally Peter opened his eyes blearily. The man could see Peter trying to focus on his face, giving a relieved tired smile when he finally understood who was kneeling next to him.

“Mozzie?”

“Yes suit, you have to stay awake. I can´t get Neal out of here without your help.” Mozzie said urgently, getting his cell phone out and dialing Diana.

“Lady suit. I found them. We are on the fifth floor in the north east corner of the building.” Mozzie could almost hear Diana roll her eyes on the mentioning of her ´name´.

“ _Mozzie, are they alright?”_

Mozzie could hear Diana give instructions to the SWAT team. _“ Go, go, go, all units you have a go, hostages are located on the fifth floor in the north east corner.”_

“No, they are not, I guess they were drugged, Peter is conscious but barely and Neal is completely out.”

_“Have you locked yourself in? You don´t open the door for anyone except me or Jones, do you hear me, Mozzie? And what do you mean Neal? Is he with you?”_

“Yes, he is, he is hurt, lady suit, now hurry.”

Mozzie quickly walked back to the door and locked it, looking for something heavy to place in front of it. He couldn´t find anything really, so he hoped the lock would keep them safe for a while, at least long enough to be rescued.

“Suit?” Peter started dry heaving. This was not good, Peter was probably having a bad reaction to whatever they had given him. Mozzie went back to Peter and picked the padlock that kept the chain on his ankle fastened, with a lot of effort; he pulled Peter to the corner behind the door. It would give some shelter if they shoot through the door. Mozzie then went back to Neal, who was still restrained, he quickly unfastened the restraints, unattached the collar and pulled Neal next to Peter. He shrugged his coat off and draped it over the two men.

Mozzie got worried when Peter started wheezing, this was not good, he felt for a pulse and noticed it was too quick. He called Diana again.

“Diana, are you close? Peter is not doing well.”

“ _They are almost there, Mozzie, hang on, it will get pretty intense over the next couple of minutes.”_

Before Mozzie could say anything else, he heard shouting and then gunshots. And then silence. It seemed like forever, until someone knocked on the door. Mozzie kept quiet and shushed Peter who started mumbling in confusion.

“Mozzie, please open up, it is Jones, I have EMT´s with me. Diana, tell Mozzie I am standing in front of the door.”

Mozzie quickly walked over and unlocked the door, letting Jones and the EMT´s in.

“ _Mozzie? Jones is waiting for you to open the door.”_

Mozzie only then realized he never disconnected the line when he called Diana earlier.

The EMTs started ventilating Peter and injected something, probably antihistamine. The other EMT was checking out Neal, but was surprised when his pupils weren´t dilating, but then he turned the little flashlight and looked from the side and said to his colleague that the man was wearing contacts. They would let them in until they were in the hospital.

Jones looked at Peter and Neal being wheeled away. When he turned to address Mozzie, he was not surprised to see that he was gone.

 

* * *

Jones had volunteered to stay at the crime scene to take care of things there. Diana had accompanied Peter and Neal to the hospital. When they arrived at Lennox, Neal and Peter were taken into the emergency room. Peter had been in and out of consciousness, confused and agitated, Neal hadn´t woken during the ride to hospital. Diana was left standing in the waiting area, with a nurse who pulled her to the desk to fill in the paperwork.

“Can you please inform me when they know something?”

“We will, dear. Can you contact their next of kin or should we?

“I will do it, thank you.” Diana walked out to call El and June.

 

* * *

 

The EMT had told the doctors about the contacts and they had been removed in the ER. The doctors wanted to know how long the patient had been wearing them.

“Did anyone come with this patient?” one of the doctors asked.

“Yes, an FBI agent, she is in the waiting room.”

“Please ask her if she knows how long he has been wearing them or if she can find out. Meanwhile, let´s bandage his eyes, I don´t want to take any changes.”

Next, they had found the earplugs and it was then clear to anybody in the room that this man had been tortured. If he had been sensory deprived for a long period, they had to be careful.

The doctors finally administrated a drug to counter the drugs given to Neal at the club. Neal woke up disoriented. He couldn´t see, but the noises were loud and the doctor could see him wincing whenever there was a loud sound. When the patient realized that his hands were not restrained any longer, he immediately fell for his eyes, setting off all sorts of alarms around him. The doctor held his wrists so he could pull of the bandage and talked in a soothing voice, but still Neal fought. As talking didn´t help, the doctor asked one of the nurses to give a mild sedative, not enough to knock the patient completely out, but enough so that he would be more relaxed. The doctor could see the patient relax, so he ordered some mittens to prevent him to disturb the bandage around his eyes.

While the patient was admitted to a room, he called in a psych consult to get more information on what to do, he expected the patient to have PTSD, according from what he had heard from the EMTs where he was found and the psychical evidence in front of him.

 

*  *  *

 

The first thing Peter noticed was that he felt awful. His head hurt, his throat hurt and he was nauseous. He must have made a sound, because someone came over and grabbed his hand and gently squeezed it.

Not wanting to open his eyes, he squeezed back. But then he heard some babbling. And suddenly it connected,… Neal. With a herculean effort, he managed to pry his eyes open. And started in the blue eyes of El. She was holding Neal on her hip with her left hand and holding his hand with her right.

“El. Neal” He whispered.

“Hey, sleepy head. How are you feeling?”

“Nauseated, tired, thirsty.”

“Let me call the nurse and see if you can have anything.” He could see El push the nurse call button and almost immediately a nurse entered. Seeing her patient awake, she asked Peter if he wanted some ice chips.

Peter was too tired to respond and just gave a weak nod. He let his eyes close again but something in his mind kept nagging that he was forgetting something. And then suddenly it clicked. Neal.

The nurse came back in and spooned some ice chips into his mouth. When his throat felt better, he asked El about Neal.

“Neal is doing well, all considering. They are keeping him lightly sedated for the moment to give his brain time to get to terms with the deprivation. Now rest, the sooner you are better, the sooner you can see Neal.”

Peter wanted to object but he was so tired and El was right, he should just close his eyes just for a moment.

 

 

_To be continued…_


	19. Recovery

Neal woke up and felt disoriented, he must have fallen asleep. He tried to get up. What if Cindy noticed? He pushed himself up from whatever he was lying on and noticed that he could use his hands. That was strange, wasn´t it? Since when did Cindy forget to restrain his hands? And whatever he was lying on was not soft and plush, but scratchy.

He startled when someone took hold of his shoulders and tried to push him back down. He tried to blink, but felt a blindfold over his eyes.

“Neal, it is Mozzie, you´re safe. You´re OK.” Mozzie whispered.

Neal grimaced while listening to the voice. It couldn´t be. He felt his heart pound in his chest, did they get Mozzie as well? What would he do now? He let himself be pushed down on what felt like a bed.

“Neal, are you OK?” Mozzie whispered again.

Hadn´t they explained the rule about not talking to Mozzie? Neal didn´t want to jeopardize Mozzie´s life, so he didn´t say anything. He just thought frantically what to do, when he realized his hands were not restrained. He slowly let his hand wander to his eyes.

“Don´t Neal.”

Neal started thinking, what did Mozzie know, that he didn´t? He opened his mouth to ask something, but then thought better of it, what if it was just a trick from Mommy to punish him again or worse, punish Mozzie? What if Mozzie was not here at all? Wearing the contacts and the ear plugs had screwed with his senses and he had had hallucinations before. Or maybe Taylor had drugged him again. All these thoughts wondered through Neal, and finally he gave into the exhaustion and fell back asleep.

 

* * *

 

When Neal started stirring, Mozzie looked up from his magazine Paranoia. He placed the magazine on the nightstand and stood next to the bed. Neal was definitely awake because he tried to get up, so Mozzie thought it would be wise to hold him, so Neal wouldn´t fall. He could see and feel Neal startling when he held him by the shoulders.

“Neal, it is Mozzie, you´re safe. You´re OK.” He whispered to avoid loud noises. Mozzie had been told by the doctor about the earplugs and everyone was instructed not to make loud noises if possible.

He could see by Neal´s demeanor that he was listening to Mozzie. But he didn´t move, so he gently pressed Neal back down to the bed.

“Neal, are you OK?”

Again, no reaction. Neal was definitely listening, but he didn´t react to Mozzie, no relieved reaction, nothing. The next thing Neal did was to stealthy try to feel for the bandage around his head.

“Don´t Neal.”

Mozzie could see that Neal wanted to ask something but then he closed his mouth, placed his head back on the pillow and eventually his breathing evened out.

Mozzie pushed the call button and a nurse entered the room. He explained Neal had awoken, but not interacted with him. The nurse told Mozzie to call immediately the next time Neal woke, so the doctor could examine him and they could give him something to drink.

Mozzie just nodded and sat down again and picked up the magazine opening it to the story about the werewolf skull being found in a chained up box.

 

* * *

 

In the next room, Peter woke lying on his side, looking directly at El and Neal. Neal had fallen asleep on his mum´s chest and Peter just looked at the picture in front of him. God, he loved his wife and son.

He felt a lot better than the first time he woke. His head was clear and he felt pretty good. He could see that the IV´s had been removed, so he gingerly sat up. When he didn´t get dizzy, he got of the bed and shuffled to the small bathroom to relief himself.

When he got back, El was watching him with a big smile.

“Hi Hon, how are you feeling?”

“Fine, good actually. Hungry.” Peter admitted.

“I will ask if they have anything to eat, you think you can hold Neal?”

“Wait, I will lie down on the bed, than you can give him to me.” Peter adjusted himself so he was comfortable in the bed and took hold of Neal who was still sleeping. Peter inhaled the baby shampoo and smiled, how he had missed his family over the last couple of weeks. He just enjoyed his time with his son, while El was in the hallway.

El walked back in with a tray, there was only a pack of crackers, a bottle of water and a cup of yoghurt on it.

“I see I get the deluxe champagne breakfast.”

“The nurse told me that if you can keep this down, she will get you something bigger with the next meal.”

Peter sighed but ate it anyway, he was really hungry.

“How is Neal?”

“He is doing well, for details you should talk to Mozzie. I have been sitting with you.”

“Mozzie is here?”

“Yes, he hasn´t left the hospital since Neal was brought in.”

A nurse entered and when the door slowly closed, he noticed there was an agent sitting in front of the door.

“Why is there a protection detail outside the door?” Peter was immediately on high alert.

“It´s OK honey, Diana told me that one of the suspects wasn´t accounted for, a woman, she must have escaped. But I don´t know the details. Diana has called me when you were transported to hospital. The Marshals drove us here and they have been outside the door all the time. We haven´t left the room, same for Neal and Mozzie, they are also guarded. They are just next door.”

Peter didn´t look better. Can I have my phone please, I need to talk to Diana. El sighed and handed Peter the phone.

 

* * *

 

Mozzie looked worried over at Neal. He was sleeping in the hospital bed, twitching and kicking in his sleep. The doctor had informed Mozzie that Neal was basically fine, the drugs were leaving his system and no permanent physical damage was done, except for the deprivation. The doctor expected it would take Neal some time to get use to bright lights and very sunny weather, but they had replaced the bandages with medical grade sun glasses. They were so dark, Mozzie couldn´t see Neal´s eyes, but Neal should be able to see something, and they would adjust the shade with Neal´s progression.

Neal started moving and Mozzie got up and walked over to the bed. Neal could see Mozzie now and a small smile formed.

“Mozzie?” he whispered.

“Yes, mon frère, can you see me? The doctor said you need to keep the glasses on for now.”

“The doctor?”

“Yes, the doctor told me the glasses need to stay one to protect your eyes.”

Neal nodded. “Are you real?”

“Yes, Neal, I am real. You are safe.”

A nurse came in and Neal´s posture got defensive, but once she placed the tray in front of him and left, he relaxed.

“Are you going to eat?” Mozzie asked when Neal didn´t make any indication that he was going to eat.

“Can I?” Neal asked with a hoarse voice.

“Of course you can.”

Neal nodded again and looked at the tray, glanced around the room and then back at the tray.

“You want some help?”

Neal didn´t really made any movement to eat, so Mozzie picked up the bottle of water. “It is important that you drink, Neal.” Mozzie held the bottle to Neal´s lips and slowly drank.

Mozzie opened the cup with yoghurt and spoon fed Neal the yoghurt, which he ate without complaining.

“Have you eaten?” Neal asked with a small voice.

“Of course Neal. Don´t you worry about me.”

“What happened?” Neal´s voice sounded strained from disuse.

“What do you mean? Don´t you remember what happened?” Mozzie sounded worried.

“When did they get you?” Neal looked around like he was going to get punished.

“They didn´t get me, Neal.”

“Then why are we in the treatment room?”

“What do you mean?”

“The guard outside, he is here to make sure we can´t leave Mozzie. If we do, Cindy will punish us.”

Mozzie hadn´t realized that Neal had seen the guard outside the room when the nurse had entered the room. He placed his arm on Neal´s arm and squeezed it reassuringly.

“It is OK Neal, the guard is here to protect us from Cindy. You are in Lennox Hospital. Neal, we are not at Cindy´s. You are safe.”

“You sure?” Neal was still glancing around. And although Mozzie couldn´t see his eyes through the glasses, he could see the direction Neal was looking at.

“Wait, I will prove that you are safe. Hang on.” Mozzie picked up the phone that was on the nightstand and dialed the next room.

“Suit, can you please come over to reassure Neal, please?”

He placed the phone back down and told Neal, Peter would be over any minute. And speaking of the devil, Peter was wheeled in by El. He had Neal in his lap.

“Hi Neal, Mozzie here told me you needed to see a familiar face. El picked Neal out of Peter´s arms and Peter gingerly got up and walked the few steps towards Neal´s bed. “Can you see me?”

Neal just nodded.

Peter looked around a bit awkward and asked if they could have some privacy. So El and Mozzie told them they would be in the room next door.

When everybody had left, Peter asked Neal to scoot over a bit and sat next to Neal on the bed. He placed his hand around Neal´s back and pulled him in a hug. Peter could feel that Neal was tense.

“Neal, you really are safe. We made it.” Peter felt so guilty but could see that this was not the right time to talk about what happened. So he would go for reassuring Neal for the moment.

“Peter?” Neal asked quietly.

“Yes, it´s me.”

“Are you really here?”

“I am really here. You are safe.” Peter tried to sound convincing, although he didn´t really feel convinced himself, but there was no reason to scare Neal by telling that Cindy escaped.

Peter could feel Neal slowly starting to relax in his hug. When suddenly the door opened and a doctor came in, Neal tensed again.

“It´s OK, Neal, it´s OK, it´s the doctor.”

“I´m sorry, I should have been more careful. I´m doctor Philips. I heard you were awake, mister Caffrey, so I wanted to check your vitals myself.” The doctor turned towards the lights and switched them all off. Peter tried to let go of Neal, but Neal clung to him.

“Neal, I won´t leave you, but the doctor wants to examine you so you need to let go of me.” Peter gently tried to get out of Neal´s grasp, but Neal only held on stronger.

“It´s OK Peter, I will do my examination like this, it´s OK. Can I call you Neal?”

Neal nodded.

“I will just listen to your heart through your gown, OK?” Peter could see that the doctor didn´t want to spook Neal. The doctor said Neal´s blood pressure was a bit high, but that could easily explained by the anxiety Neal felt in the situation, all the rest was fine.

After he had closed the drapes, the doctor gently approached Neal and took off the glasses, continuously explaining what he was doing. Even with all the lights turned off and the drapes closed, Peter could see Neal squint against the light and quickly closing his eyes. The doctor did a quick examination and then placed the glasses back.

“You are doing OK, Neal. How do you feel?”

“Tired.” Neal whispered.

Peter could see what toll the quick examination had cost Neal.

“Then rest, Neal, you want something to help you? I can give you a sleeping pill?” The doctor suggested.

“NO!” Neal said determined and firm.

Peter could see all the anxiety and angst return in Neal´s posture. He expected punishment.

“OK, no problem. Just try to rest.” The doctor said gently, stepping away.

“Doctor, can we have my bed moved to Neal´s room?”

“Yeah, I don´t see any problem, I will ask housekeeping to make the adjustments.”

“Thanks.” Peter said to the doctor, before he left the room. Peter could see Neal reaching out for him, so he made his way over to the bed again.

Half an hour later, Peter´s bed was wheeled in and arranged next to Neal´s bed. A nurse had brought an extra sheet and she pulled down the guard rail on both beds, pulled them together, placing the sheet in between the gap, then fastening them together.

“I hope this is OK for you.” she said to Peter, “but I think it would be more relaxing for Neal if he can feel someone next to him.”

“Thank you, can you ask my wife and the gentlemen with her to come in.”

“Sure.”

Peter arranged Neal close to him and Neal almost immediately fell asleep, with his hand placed underneath Peter´s.

When El and Mozzie came in, Peter made a gesture to be quiet. El handed little Neal to Peter and little Neal happily smiled at Peter, who started playing peek a boo.

 

* * *

 

Peter woke with a start when Neal started moaning. Peter looked around disoriented and realized he was in the hospital and Neal as lying next to him. Neal was twitching and his movements were getting stronger. He also started mumbling although Peter couldn´t understand him. Peter gently tried to wake Neal, but he only got more agitated. When Peter tried to control Neal´s movements by holding his wrists, Peter could see Neal still and the only thing that showed he was still in distress were the tears that silently fell from Neal´s closed eyes.

“Neal, come on, wake up.”

Neal tried to curl into himself, but Peter pulled him in a spooning gesture and softly started talking to Neal reassuring him with his voice and eventually Neal relaxed. Peter fell asleep spooning Neal and that is how the nursing staff found them in the morning.

 

 

_To be continued…_


	20. Going home

Since both Neal and Peter were physically fine, there was no reason to stay in hospital. The doctor had explained to Peter and Mozzie that Neal was basically fine, his eyes were adjusting, so he needed to keep the glasses on, but other than that, there was no reason to keep him in hospital.

However, doctor Philips wanted Neal to consult with the psychiatry intern of Lennox Hill, they had an excellent anxiety management support group. All the medical staff had noticed Neal´s anxiety whenever an unfamiliar person entered the room. As long as it was someone he knew, he was OK, but even then, barely. Eating had also become a task, Neal would not touch his food, not even when he was told it was OK. He would eat when he was fed, but never touching his food himself.

The doctor thought that was OK, as he did get enough nutrients, with his friends coming over with rich foods Neal liked, but the doctor worried about the deeper reason why he wouldn´t eat himself. The doctor had suggested to commit Neal to the psyche ward, but Peter had put his veto down that Neal was still in danger with Cindy on the loose, and that he needed protection.

So three days after they were committed, Neal and Peter were released. Neal was released with a list of appointments with eye specialists and various therapists. El and her son had been transported to a safe house under the protection of the Marshalls. June had left for an unknown destination to go on holiday. Mozzie had just left with the promise to visit Neal soon. So when they were discharged, Peter and Neal were escorted by Jones, Diana and two Marshalls.

Neal was sporting his super dark sunglasses again, now that he was going outside the hospital room in a sunny day. He almost clung to Peter when the sliding doors of the Lennox lobby opened. Two black Chevrolet Suburban SUVs with tinted windows stood in front of the entrance. The moment they wanted to step outside, Peter noticed Neal started to tremble and twitch and took a step back.

“Hey, it´s OK, Neal, we are going home.” Peter gently pulled on Neal´s arm.

When Neal didn´t move, he thought of something. He put his hand in Neal´s neck and pushed a little firmer. “Let´s go, Neal.” Peter winched at the force in his voice, but he could see Neal´s posture change and Neal let himself be walked to the SUV. He got in without saying anything. He sat down with his hands in his lap and stared at his lap.

“I´m sorry, Neal, I didn´t want to force you, but we couldn´t stand still, it was dangerous.”

Neal didn´t respond, just kept his head down.

The cars navigated through the heavy evening traffic towards the safe house. Once there, Peter and Neal had to wait until they got the OK from the Marshalls to leave the car, and then were quickly escorted inside. When Peter opened the front door, he could smell the wonderful aroma of some delicious beef stew. Neal just stood next to him and Peter gently pushed Neal inside the apartment. Two Marshalls came inside and two others stayed outside, probably guarding the entrance and the roof of the building. Diana and Jones were already inside.

Peter immediately walked over to Neal, who was lying in his playpen, and picked him up. The boy giggled at Peter when Peter lifted him above his head like he was an airplane. El came from the kitchen with a big smile on her face.

“Hi Neal” She gently touched his arm, but he couldn´t suppress the flinch that went through him. “I´m sorry.” El apologized.

“No, It´s my fault.” Neal whispered.

Peter turned around to see what was happening and his guilt came back with a vengeance. If he had realized Cindy´s pet was Neal all a long, he would have been able to safe him days earlier, without having to go through the soiree. His expression darkened, but El picked up on the mood change and announced that dinner was ready. She had placed enough plates for Diana, Jones and the Marshalls to join them for dinner. Neal´s high chair stood between El and Peter and Neal was seated in between Peter and Jones.

El made sure to tell the Marshalls she had enough for their colleagues as well. She filled everyone´s plate and then started feeding little Neal. Everyone digged in. Peter had already taken a few bites, until he remembered Neal, he had hoped that Neal would start to eat once he was home, but he didn´t. His head was bowed and he was staring at the plate. Peter picked up some stew in a spoon and fed Neal, who happily opened his mouth. He didn´t even look at Peter or the other table guests. He ate and drank everything Peter gave him. Peter´s guilt was back, Neal would never have allowed to be fed in public, it was again another sign how broken Neal was in his head. He may not have any physical scars, but emotional, they were huge.

“Anyone dessert? I made pistachio gelato.” El announced.

Peter could see Neal wanted to look up in surprise, but then thought better and held still.

“You want some gelato, Neal?” Peter asked.

Neal nodded.

“Please use your voice, your speech therapist told you to verbalize, I know it is hard, but you need to work on it buddy.”

“Yes, please.” Neal whispered.

After the gelato, Neal touched Peter´s knee under the table. It was something Peter had noticed before in hospital. He looked at Neal and he could see Neal was tired.

“You want to rest or watch some television?”

“Rest. Can I?” Neal looked insecure at Peter.

“Of course, Neal, you don´t have to ask. I will show you your room.”

Peter got up and Neal followed him out of the room to one of the bedrooms. It was a bedroom without a window. Peter had chosen it because it was easier to protect and Neal would hopefully feel more secure when there was one less entrance to the room. He showed Neal the lock on the inside of the door and also told him the door was reinforced, so if there was an emergency, he would just have to lock himself into the room and it would be fine. There was also a panic button that gave direct contact to the Marshalls.

He let Neal change into his pajamas and brush his teeth, and then tucked him in. He turned on the low light emitting LED before taking off Neal´s glasses.

“Sleep tight.”

 

When Peter returned to the dining area, he could see the Marshalls had switched and their colleagues were eating in the kitchen.

Diana and Jones looked serious. Peter also desperately wanted to talk to them, and it probably showed on his face, because El excused herself telling Peter to clear the table, she would take care of their son.

 

“Spill Diana, what are you holding out on me?”

“Well, as you know, Cindy got away, we believe she has left the country.”

“OK, perhaps that isn´t such a bad thing, maybe it can give Neal some peace of mind.”

“How is Neal? He seems fragile, not like the Neal Caffrey who brought down The panters.” Diana said.

“I know, but it has been a hell of a ride for Neal, being kidnapped, held as a slave, being drugged, tortured.” Peter didn´t elaborate more. They had been in the club, they knew what happened in there.

“What is with the eating?” Jones looked at Peter.

“The last months, Neal hasn´t been allowed to feed himself. He was either handfed by Cindy, Taylor or one of their trainers or he had to eat out of a dog bowl. It is a way to take control away from someone, to ingrain that they are nothing, just a pet that lives by the grace of the master.”

“Yeah, but now that he is free, why would he still want to be handfed.”

“It makes him feel safe. Remember, these monsters make sure their pets get Stockholm syndrome. They are deprived of any human contact, except from their masters, so they will do anything to get attention and affection.”

“You think he will be the old Neal Caffrey again?”

“Neal´s occupation therapist is convinced that he will make a full recovery, but warns for PTSD, so we will have to take it one step at a time.”

“You want us to stay?” Diana asked;

“Don´t you have to go back to Theo?” peter looked surprised at Diana.

“Nah, he is good, he is staying with my mum and dad, and they retreated to their vacation place while I am on this case, just to be sure.”

“OK, thanks, there is a spare bedroom.”

Diana got up and went to retrieve her bag from the car. Jones left with her, he would be back first thing in the morning.

 

* * *

 

The days went rather quickly, between taking care of both Neals and bringing Neal to his different therapies during the day, so when a week later Peter started wondering when they could go back to their home, he was unpleasantly surprised.

He had dropped Neal off at his occupation therapy at Lennox Hill and was on the FDR Drive going downtown towards the FBI building, when he received a call from Diana.

“Boss, Taylor escaped.” Was the only thing she said.

Peter let out a curse. “Diana, call the Marshalls. Neal is at Lennox Hill, Harold and Patrick are with him.” Peter was already taking the first exit to turn back to the hospital. “Diana, please see to El and Neal and take Jones with you.” His voice had now taken on a different tone.

“On it, boss.”

Peter made it back to the Hospital in a record breaking time and flew into the hospital, leaving his car in a handicap spot with his FBI credentials on the dashboard.

When he arrived at the psych ward, he could see Harold and Patrick escorting Neal through a different exit. He walked up to them and said he had a car ready, but they explained to him, that protocol dictated that Neal would be transported in an armored car. Peter said he would join them, only remembering his car when they already left the hospital premises. He would have it picked up by one of the probies.

When the car pulled up, traffic was heavy and the sirens were flicked on. Neal cringed by the sudden sound. Peter threw his arm around Neal´s shoulders and pulled him close. “It is going to be OK, Neal. We are going back to the safehouse.” Peter called El explaining that they were on their way to the safehouse and not to open for anyone, but El reassured Peter that Jerry and Arthur, the Marshalls, had already explained the protocol to her. Once the traffic thinned out, the sirens were turned off and Peter could feel Neal relax, even if it was just a bit.

Finally, they arrived at the safehouse and the car drove into the underground parking garage. The Marshalls got out first and then signaled the coast was clear and Peter and Neal could come out. They quickly made their way into the apartment. El had started stress baking and made fresh coffee with cake for everybody.

Just before dinner, Peter phone rang again.

“Suit?”

“Mozzie. How can I help you?”

“Word on the street is that Taylor escaped. Is Neal OK?”

“He is hanging on, but I would prefer it if you could come over.”

“OK, you clear me with the Marshalls?”

“Of course, are you joining us for diner? Then I will ask El to wait.”

“No need, I will be up in a minute.”

Peter smiled while he hung up the phone, informing the Marshalls about Mozzie´s visit. He was still talking to them, when the doorbell rang and Jerry walked over to open it.

Mozzie walked in and immediately made his way over to Neal.

“Hey Neal, how are you doing?”

“Glad that you all are OK. Can you please stay?”

“Of course, buddy. Come, let´s eat.” Mozzie pulled Neal with him towards the table.

Over the last couple of days, they had let Neal feed little Neal. When Peter went back to work, El had told Neal it was very tiring for her to cook, clean and feed Neal. So she had ask Neal to feed her son some pieces of sandwich, she had cut up in little pieces. She asked Neal to help her out with every meal, and Neal was happy to help, the baby not being a threat to him.

Yesterday, when Neal thought she wasn´t looking, El had seen him giving little Neal a piece of apple and absently put a piece in his own mouth. Her hearth made a little jump of joy. This morning she had handed Neal plate with two PBJ sandwiches cut up in pieces.

“Is this not too much?” Neal had asked, but she told him to see where it went. Everybody was eating and not paying attention to Neal and El could see Neal again slip pieces into his own mouth. Of course Peter had pretended not to notice, so he fed Neal a croissant with jelly but El could see the smile on Peter´s face.

Now, she handed Neal a plate with mashed potatoes and broccoli and some veal. It was all blended but she had made sure there was enough. She could only hope that today´s events had set Neal back. But to Mozzie´s amazement, Neal fed Neal and every few spoons, took a bite himself.

 

Neal helped clear the table and then asked to be excused. Peter and Mozzie could see the stress of today had gotten to Neal and all he wanted to do was crawl under the covers.

“Get ready and I will come over, so we can talk a bit more, Neal” Mozzie told him while he walked towards the corridor.

 

* * *

 

The following days passed uneventful and Peter went back to work, convinced that Taylor wouldn´t come after them. If he knew what was good for him, he would have left the country like Cindy. Mozzie had listened around on the streets, where word was that Taylor had also left New York City.

El had told Peter that she was fed up with being cooped up in the apartment with Neal and that she really needed a haircut, so she called her hairdresser and promised to take one of the Marshalls with her. Diana and the other Marshall would stay with both Neals.

Neal was playing with little Neal on the play mat with some water bottle that he had transformed in discovery bottles, some had pom poms in them, other´s dices or coins. Neal was looking at them in fascination. Neal had asked El if it was OK if he finger painted with the boy later today. She had placed all the materials on the table.

Neal was enjoying his time with the little man, when he suddenly heard gunfire outside, he froze. He could hear Diana shout to the Marshall. Neal´s breathing picked up but he couldn´t do anything, his fear nailed him to the ground. When he didn´t hear Diana anymore, he started trembling, he needed to do something, but he could only stare at the front door. When there was a loud bang on said door and little Neal started crying, Neal woke from his stupor, grabbed Neal, and ran towards his bedroom, while the door behind him shattered into splinters. Someone threw something behind him into the room, but Neal had made it into his bedroom and bolted the bedroom door down before the man that had attacked the apartment had made it in.

He crawled with Neal in the bed and shielded the child with his body. Peter had told him that the door was reinforced. They must have used some sort of narcotic, because he started to feel sleepy, with his last effort, he pushed the panic button at the head of the bed. He then sagged on the bed and was out. Not noticing that little Neal also had stopped crying.

 

_To be continued…_


	21. Will it ever stop?

When Peter´s telephone rang at the office, Peter didn´t check the caller ID, thinking it was El calling him to meet her somewhere for lunch, enjoying her time out.

“Burke.”

“ _This is the US Marshall´s office. The panic button in the safe house was activated two minutes ago. Marshalls have been dispatched to the house, but I thought it necessary to inform you_.”

Peter´s heart stopped. All color drained from his face. El, the baby, … Neal! He tried Diana´s phone, but it wasn´t answered. He called out into the bullpen to Jones, shouting for a SWAT team to be dispatched to the Safe house. And to send agents to El´s hairdresser to make sure she was OK. Everybody was immediately on high alert.

“I´ll drive, Peter” Jones called out while running behind Peter, making the necessary phone calls, while they made their way to the garage.

“The bastard went after my family, Jones, get me there, NOW.”

While Jones drove with blearing sirens to the safe house, Peter checked his gun. Jones gave him a worried glance.

When they arrived at the safe house; there was controlled chaos. An ambulance pulled away with its sirens on. Outside was a SWAT van and two ambulances were parked in front of the building. Peter had excited the car before it had come to a complete stop. An officer tried to stop him, but when he saw Peter´s badge and the determined look on his face, he stepped aside.

Peter ran into the apartment and the first thing he saw was Diana being examined by an EMT.

“Are you alright? Who is in the ambulance?”

Diana grimaced when the EMT put a pressure bandage around her arm. “Gerald was hit in the chest and leg and they took him to hospital. He was wearing his vest, so he should be OK. I´m fine, I was only grazed.”

Peter walked into the living room and there was a dead body. Diana must have shot him.

“Neal? NEAL?” When Peter didn´t get any response, he felt his heart turn stone cold. A SWAT officer outside Neal´s room waved to him.

We guess he is inside as someone pushed the panic button inside. But since the door was specially reinforced, we have to wait for a specialist to open the door.

“Did you find a small boy? He is only eighteen months old.” Peter looked at all the agents present.

“The SWAT agents all shook their head. “No, the apartment is clear.

“He must be with my wife then.” Peter felt his fear die down a bit.

“We do however found a canister; we guess it had some sedative in it; that is why the guy was wearing a gasmask.” Peter only now realized that all the windows were open.

“Peter!” Diana called out to him and the urgency in her voice, made him turn around to her. Peter looked at her.

“Neal was here with Neal, boss. They were playing in the living room the last time I saw them. He must have grabbed Neal and ran into the bedroom.” Peter could see little pearls of sweat starting to form on Diana´s forehead. Diana´s words had his heart back in his throat. His son had been in the apartment when this bastard had entered the apartment.

“Let them take you to hospital Diana. I will take care of it. I´m sure, Neal is taking care of my boy.”

“Call Mozzie, he will get in the room.” Diana shouted at him while she was lead to the ambulance.

Peter started knocking on the bedroom door while he was on the phone with Mozzie who promised to be there in a couple of minutes.

“NEAL? Open the door, come on. NEAL?”

When Neal didn´t respond, Peter´s worry increased, but he needed to think clearly and not let his emotions get away with him.

Peter started pacing in the hallway but then thought better and walked out of the room to await Mozzie, so he would be able to get in without problems.

“What happened, suit?” was the first thing that came out of Mozzie´s mouth when he saw Peter.

“Please Mozzie, Neal has locked himself in and he has my son with him. Can you open a reinforced door?”

“Are there tannins in wine?”

Mozzie put his leather satchel down and examined the door with Peter breathing down his neck. “I need to concentrate, please leave the hall way, I will call you when I am in.” Mozzie said Peter and the other officers.

Peter tried to control his fears and anxiety while he waited in the living room with the other officers and the EMTs. One of the EMTs had left to get a pediatric kit out of the ambulance, just in case, when he heard there was possibly a baby involved.

“I´m in.” Mozzie shouted after a couple of minutes.

Peter ran towards the room.

“Neal? Neal! I need paramedics in here.”

Neal was lying with his back to the door and he was curled protectively around the boy. They were both unconscious but there were no visible wounds.

Peter could see an EMT placing an oxygen mask over Neal´s face, the other EMT was monitoring his son, who got a smaller oxygen mask. Both EMTs checked vitals and for wounds, but didn´t look worried. Mozzie however looked ready to bolt with all this law enforcement around.

“They are OK, they must have inhaled some of the sedative and that is why they are out, but their vitals are stable and strong, they are both fine.”

Peter released a breath, he didn´t know he had been holding. He walked over to his son, who was lying on the bed and placed his hand on his head. They had placed Neal on a gurney.

“You sure, they are OK?”

“Yes, once the narcotic wears off, they will be fine.”

“Can I hold him?”

The EMT looked questionable at Peter.

“I´m the boy´s father, Peter Burke.”

The SWAT officer nodded at the EMT.

“Of course, sorry, I had no idea, just make sure to keep the oxygen mask on, I want him well saturated. Here, sit down and I will put him in your arms.”

Peter sat down and Neal was placed in his arms, he placed a quick kiss on his son´s head. It was unnerving to feel Neal´s limp body in his arms. When the EMT thought they were good to go and that both victims were ready to be transported to hospital, Peter carried his son into the ambulance and stayed with him. He wasn´t letting him out of his sight; not after what happened. Neal was transported in another ambulance. Peter had demanded to be brought to Lennox Hill as Neal was familiar with the medical staff and his therapist were there, so it would make things easier.

Once they took Neal into the treatment room, Peter told the staff he was staying with his son, but the doctor already was informed and just smiled and told Peter it was OK to come back in. Peter called El to tell her they were at Lennox Hill, but that everyone was OK.

 

* * *

 

When Neal started to stir, he felt a hand on his and he instinctively stilled.

“Neal? It´s OK, you and Neal are OK.”

Neal blinked against the light, which was turned off. A pair of sunglasses were placed on his face.

“El?”

“Yes, sweetie.” She pressed a quick kiss on his forehead and pushed some strands of hair out of his face. “Thank you for saving our son.”

“Hmm?” Neal felt a bit dizzy and disoriented.

“You are fine, once the drugs leave you body, you will be OK. They just want to keep you both here for the night to make sure.”

“Both of us?”

“Yes, look to your right.”

Neal turned his head to the right and could see a hospital crib where Neal was sleeping next to him.

“Closer?”

“Sure.” El got up and pushed the crib against Neal´s bed.

Neal immediately placed his hand through the bars and took Neal´s hand in his. He sighed and closed his eyes. He could feel tears built up in his eyes.

“Oh sweetie, you did good. You protected my son, I am so grateful. You will always be his hero, you know that don´t you?”

Neal felt El swipe away the tears that leaked out of his eyes.

“You sure he is OK?”

“Yes. Now rest a bit more, Peter will be here soon to visit.”

 

* * *

 

Peter walked in Diana´s room and could see she was uncomfortable.

“How are you doing?”

“I´m fine, if they would just let me out of here. It´s just a graze, they cleaned and bandaged it, so I don´t see the problem.”

“The doctor told me he would be in any minute to discharge you. Thought I keep you company.”

“How is Neal?”

“Which one?” Peter asked with a smile.

“Both of them of course, but little Neal.”

“They are both fine, they want to keep them overnight to make sure, but they just inhaled the sedative. They weren´t harmed in any other way. Neal made it to the bedroom in time.”

“Good, that is good.” Diana sighed in relief.”

“Want to tell me what happened?”

“Not much to tell. A man entered the building, I tried to warn Gerald, but before I could react, Gerald was shot twice and I was hit as well, I fell down and was stunned for a moment. He must have thought I was out, because he didn´t finish me. I didn´t recognize him because he was wearing a gasmask. He had a sort of battery ram with him, because next thing I know the door shattered and he threw something in, we know now it was a gas canister.”

“What happened next?”

“He made his way in and was going for the bedroom door when I got up and told him to stand still. He didn´t reply and tried to batter down the bedroom door. When he realized it wasn´t working, he came back towards me. That is when I wanted to fire a warning shot, but the gas must have dazed me, because I intended to give a warning shot, but I hit him.”

“It´s OK, Diana, you did good, you saved four people today, including yourself.”

The doctor entered the room with Diana´s discharge papers and instructions how to take care of the wound and signs to be aware of.

Diana got up from the bed and told Peter she wanted to see both Neals.

 

* * *

 

A nurse had placed a tray of food on the side table of Neal´s bed and had handed Neal´s baby food to El. Neal was lying on his side in the bed, apparently asleep.

Neal slowly blinked and eyed the tray, but the plate was covered by a lid. Next to it was a cup of jell-o, a bottle of water and orange juice.

“It´s OK, Neal, I will help you after I have finished feeding Neal.” He heard El say. But he knew his occupation therapist would say that he was able to feed himself, that he shouldn´t depend on others to feed him. He had made progress over the last days, but today he didn´t feel like eating. A kidnapper had come after him, he could have hurt little Neal, or even worse, he could have kidnapped the boy. Neal cringed by the thought what People like Cindy and Taylor would do with a little boy. Maybe he should present himself to Cindy, than at least Peter, El and the baby would be safe.

The door of the hospital room opened and Neal tensed up until he saw it was Peter and Diana. He forced himself to relax. He heard Diana tell Peter she was going to grab some dinner and would be back later. Peter walked up to the bed and took the lid of the plate.

“Yummy Neal, it´s mashed potatoes with fish and broiled vegetables.”

When Neal didn´t make any indication that he was going to eat, Peter took the remote for the bed and started fiddling with it. Neal could feel the bed moving in a more upright position. He had to adjust not to slide down, so he just glared at Peter who was looking at him with an innocent smile.

Neal could see a spoon with food in front of him and for a moment he thought about not eating it, but then he remembered El´s words. “You will be his hero.” So he reluctantly opened his mouth and let Peter feed him.

“Thank you Neal.” he heard Peter whisper.

“For what?”

“For saving my son, for eating, for fighting back, you are the strongest person I know Neal.” He heard Peter´s voice break. And again, Neal could feel the tears building in his eyes and when he looked up; he could see Peter was crying as well.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, both Neals were discharged from the hospital. The Marshalls suggested a new safehouse, but Peter was not convinced. He had talked with the Deputy Director that he needed time to get things organized at home. The Deputy Director had told him that he didn´t need to take time off, this mess had happened after an active case and one of his SACs and his family were in danger, so the FBI needed to step up and provide safety for all people involved.

So Peter contacted June and explained what had happened and she immediately suggested that they could use her home in Vermont. It was a secure house and easy to guard. So the Marshalls escorted Neal, Peter and his family to the house.

When they arrived, Mozzie opened the door, which got a big smile out of Neal.

“Mon frère, how are you doing?

“Fine.” Neal looked tired and Mozzie guided them all in the house. The house smelled delicious.

“Have you been cooking?” Peter asked with some disbelief in his voice.

“What, you doubt my culinary talents? I made penne with chicken and broccoli in pesto. Comfort food, suit.”

When the Marshalls checked out the house and found it secure, they all had a wonderful dinner. After the meal, El and Peter went upstairs to take Neal to bed and Mozzie and Neal sat on the porch of the house for coffee and brownies.

“You know it is going to be OK, don´t you?” Mozzie asked.

“How can you be sure Mozzie, who says it is ever going to stop? Hmm? What if Cindy and Taylor will not stop until they get me, through you or Peter, or El and the baby, June´s granddaughter?” Neal was getting agitated.

“OK, maybe coffee wasn´t a good idea. Let me make you some Camilla tea.”

“I´m serious, Mozzie. They won`t stop until they get me back.”

“We will make sure that won´t happen, Neal.” Another voice said.

Neal looked up, Peter was standing in the door. He deflated. “How can you be sure?”

“Because the FBI will hunt them down, I will hunt them down.”

“You have a family, Peter, what happened if I hadn´t been quick enough yesterday. I FROZE Peter, I sat there in fear, nailed to the ground. I couldn´t move.” Neal shouted.

“You moved Neal, because you saved my boy.”

Neal jumped up and walked into the house. Peter wanted to follow him but Mozzie stopped him.

“Just let him be for now. Let him come to terms with what happened. Baby steps, remember?”

 

 

_To be continued…_


	22. Going home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OK, this will be the last chapter in The Collector. As I mentioned before, there will be a sequel for the April Amnesty Challenge for the H/C bingo. Again, if someone wants to beta that story, just let me know (before the end of April)  
> I must admit, I had never expected this many hits. Thank you all for reading and following the story and for all the comments. It makes it worth writing these fanfics, to hear from you and what you think about a story.  
> I enjoyed the ride, I hope you did to, so now on to the final chapter…

Peter sat on the porch with a beer looking at Neal painting. June had sent his easel, paints and some canvases to the house with her regards. She was still residing at an unknown address with her family.

It had taken some time to convince Neal to pick up his paints. El had told Peter that he had wanted to finger paint with Neal the afternoon they were attacked. So it was possible that thinking about painting made him revive bad memories, Peter could understand and sympathize, but he had to try, so he had explained to Neal that the little boy really wanted to mess with paints. And how much Neal loved and adored the little guy, he couldn´t and wouldn´t touch any paints. So Mozzie had taken it upon himself to paint with Neal. He had placed a very big piece of plastic on the floor, papers, edible paints in cups and a very big towel. Neal had kirred in joy when Mozzie placed his fingers in the colorful mess and then placed them on the paper. Soon everything was smeared with paint, not the least Neal and Mozzie; even his glasses had streaks of paint on them.

Neal had been watching from a distance. Peter could see that there was nothing more Neal wanted than to join in, but he hadn´t. It had taken several tries until one day, Mozzie started to explain primary colors to the little guy and how to mix them. Neal slowly walked over and told Mozzie he was explaining it wrong, which Mozzie of course denied.

Peter watched in fascination how Mozzie lured Neal into the painting session and before they all knew it, Neal was painting. Little Neal though it was fascinating and hilarious when he started rubbing his hands on Neal´s clean clothes, but Neal only laughed. Mozzie looked up at Peter just to say, _See, that is how the Master does it_. Hearing Neal laugh was music to Peter´s ears. It had been so long since he had seen a genuine smile on Neal´s face.

 

Now, Neal was standing in the garden of the house and was painting the changing trees. Indian summer in Vermont was gorgeous and Neal had painted several works already.

Mozzie had returned to the city to see what he could find out about Cindy and Taylor. The investigation was still ongoing, but there was no proof the dead man was connected to Cindy or Taylor. He turned out to be a so called ´bodysnatcher´, like Dominique Steinberg, kidnapping people on demand.

Dominique had been found dead in Paris together with three of his men. Peter had learned that from Europol. The report he had mailed over stated that they had been professionally liquidated. Peter had told Neal, so he would get some peace of mind, but as long as Cindy and Taylor were on the loose, Peter could understand Neal would never feel safe. It was clear Cindy and Taylor made sure nothing could be traced back to them. The only positive thing was that they had seemed to be out of the country. There were international wanted posters spread, so hopefully that would be enough to pick them up if they ever tried to enter the United States again.

 

When El called them in for dinner, Peter gave a yell to Neal, who started to clean his brushes, before coming in.

Neal still fed little Neal while eating himself, it had become a routine to get Neal to eat himself. Meal times weren´t as stressed anymore as they used to be. Only on stressful occasions, Neal had to be reminded to feed himself, but the therapist, that came every two days, thanks to June, was optimistic.

At the moment they were still working on Neal´s inability to sometimes tell someone what he wanted. He would touch Peter´s knee, Peter eventually found out what the touching mend, but the therapist was working with Neal to solve the problem.

They ware also making sure that Neal was less jumpy whenever someone snuck up on him or of loud noises. Peter had to admit, Neal was working hard on his recovery. All and all, Neal was making great progress all things considering.

But the better Neal was doing, the more Peter felt guilty. El had suggested that Peter also talked to a therapist. He had declined, told her he was fine, but was beginning to doubt this decision.

After dinner, the Marshalls checked out the perimeter and the rest of the family settled in the living room. El had put on some jazz from June´s extensive collection and Neal was sketching in his book. Peter sometimes wondered what Neal was sketching all the time.

El asked Peter to make some coffee while she took Neal to bed.

“No coffee for me, please.” Neal said without looking up from his drawing.

“You want some tea?”

“Do you have that Maroccon Mint tea, El made that other time?”

“Yeah, I guess so, want some honey in it as well?”

“Yes, please.”

Peter walked into the kitchen to make some coffee and tea. He was nosing through the cupboards for a sweet to go with it, but couldn´t find anything to his tasting. So he just brought in the drinks and settled in the couch with his cross word puzzles.

 

* * *

 

Peter tried to look around, but everything was pitch black. He was confused, he didn´t remember getting there. He was kneeling and his hands were uncomfortable restrained behind his back at the elbows and wrists. He realized that he was restrained in a stock, just like Neal had been when he had pulled of the hood. El,… Neal…? What happened, had they been kidnapped?

His knees hurt and he was drooling because the ring gag spread his mouth open. He tried to swallow but the ring made it difficult and he could feel that the collar was fastened too tight around his neck.

“Are you with us, Peter?” Peter froze, how did Cindy get here? How had she managed to get him? What had happened to his family and Neal? Why hadn´t he notice her before? He tried to turn to see her, but he couldn´t, so he was forced to stay as he was placed.

“You are such a good pet. But I have a customer who wants to pay a lot of money to have that fine piece of ass of yours.”

Peter swallowed convulsing to try to control his fear. What customer?

When he tried to talk, he was stunned into silence, when the whip hit his bare ass. Only now did he realize that he was naked. And even worse, he could hear other people, they were cheering Cindy on.

He shivered when he felt a gloved hand run over his flanks and in his hair. The hand was strong and big, it was a male hand. Now that the man stood closer, Peter could smell his expensive cologne. It was a familiar scent. The hand ran over his back towards his ass and Peter started begging. So the whip came back down, and Peter stopped, but he couldn´t hold back the tears that formed.

“You are so pretty when you cry.” The man said.

Peter tensed up, it couldn´t be, that voice…But before he realized what was happening he heard a zipper being pulled down and a hard cock was shoved in his spread open mouth. Peter gagged, but the whip came down again.

“Be a good cockslut and take it like a good pet.” Cindy said, and while she said it, she pulled away the blindfold.

Peter blinked against the harsh stage lights. But couldn´t see anything as the man shoved in his cock all the way down his throat, until Peter´s nose touched the man´s pelvis. The man held his head still by grabbing a fist full of hair. But Peter wanted, no, needed to breathe, but couldn´t, with his mouth spread open, and the man´s cock all the way down his throat, he couldn´t breathe. After a couple of seconds, he started struggling, only to be whipped again. Finally the man let go, and while he pulled back his pulsing cock, Peter could feel come filling his mouth.

“Don´t you dare spill a drop.” Cindy warned him. She placed a plug in the ring so Peter´s mouth was sealed and he could only swallow the man´s come. When Cindy squeezed his nose shut, Peter struggled as he knew what would happen. He had seen it done to Neal. And while he was fighting for air, the man came in his line of vision and Peter could see and hear Neal say “He does make a beautiful gasper.”

 

* * *

 

Peter woke up with a gasp. He could breathe… he could breathe… when he looked around, he could see El sleeping next to him. Oh My God, it was just a dream…

Peter got out of bed and went downstairs where he filled a glass with water and sat down. It had just been a nightmare. It wasn´t real. It hadn´t happened. Slowly his breathing evened and he could feel his fear settle. It hadn´t happen to him, but it had to Neal. Only now could he imagine what it must have been like. He needed to talk to Neal.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Peter woke up more exhausted than when he went to bed. He could hear Neal in his crib and lifted him out, carrying him downstairs where he smelled freshly made pancakes. Mozzie had returned from the city, obviously, because he was sitting at the table with Neal and El.

He gave El a kiss and dropped Neal in his high chair at the head of the table.

“Bonjour, mon petit Neal.” Mozzie said and waved at Neal, getting a giggle from the boy. “Comment allez-vous?”

“Why are you speaking French to my son?”

“It is good for his development.” Mozzie sounded almost offended.

“Some pancakes, hon?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Mozzie brought the New York Times with him, so Peter immediately digged into it. When he finally finished the cross word puzzle with his second cup of coffee, he looked up. The table had been cleared and everybody had left the kitchen. Peter went back up and took a shower. He needed to talk to Neal. He got in the shower and let the water become as hot as he could bear it.

 

* * *

 

When he got downstairs again, Mozzie was reading ´Le Petit Prince´ to Neal. El was bustling in the kitchen and Neal was bent over his sketchbook.

“Neal, can we talk?”

“Sure.” Neal padded the couch he was sitting on.

“No, not here.” Peter didn´t look at Neal, he was staring outside.

“OK?” Neal sounded a bit insecure.

“We need to talk, Neal.”

“Fine, want to go to the local diner and grab a cup of coffee?”

“No, let´s just have a walk in the woods.” Peter suggested.

Neal went upstairs to get a sweater and they started walking. One of the Marshalls walked with them at a distance that he couldn´t overhear the conversation.

“Neal, we need to talk about what happened the night we were rescued.” Peter started the conversation.

“You know I only remember bits and pieces, right?” Neal looked into Peter´s eyes. “The doctors told me I would probably not remember much because of all the drugs they pumped in my system.”

“I know, they told me the same, but you know I was undercover in Cindy´s organization, well, Club. You also know what sort of club she ran.”

“Yes, but I always assumed you went undercover as muscle or something, what are you trying to tell me? I can´t be that bad.”

“Well, …”

“Yes...? Tell me.”

“I went in as a dom.”

Neal started chuckling. “Seriously?”

“This isn´t a laughing matter, well, it is not to me.”

Neal could see Peter was serious, so he let the smirk fall from his face. “OK, so you went in as a dom, it is not as if you raped me.”

“…”

“Peter, I was never raped.” Neal said convincingly.

“Giving head without consent is rape.”

“If you put it like that…” Neal fell silent. He stopped walking and faced Peter.

“What are you trying to say Peter?”

Peter could see the tension creeping in Neal. He had to man up and tell Neal.

“I was the man that you gave a blow job, Neal, at the club. That night.”

Neal just stared at Peter after this revelation.

“Why didn´t you tell me before?”

“I…” Peter didn´t know how to answer that question. He hesitantly took Neal´s hand and when he didn´t pull away, he pulled Neal in a hug. When he let go, he said. “You know I would never do that to anyone if they hadn´t forced me. I know that I shouldn´t have done it, even under duress.”

“Peter, there were innocent people you also saved that night. Tell me what happened.”

“I had been asked by Cindy to take care of her pets, so I was in the house when you were there, but she always kept your face hidden. I met you when you were in the body cast.”

“You were the one that gave me the water?” Neal shook his head in disbelief.

“Yes. If I had made the connection then…”

“No, don´t go there, how would you have known? I was completely covered.” Neal gave Peter a small smile.

“I was scared you know. Not being able to move, but then you gave me water, so there had to be someone that cared…” Neal said silent.

“My cover must have been blown, because Cindy asked me to attend a soiree at the Club as her dom. Probably as revenge, she made you give me a blow job. She told me to take the leather hood off, and that is when I realized you had been in my vicinity all along.”

“I never realized it was you, but it is reassuring it was you.”

Peter looked at him not understanding.

“If I needed to give someone a blowjob, I prefer it to be you than some random stranger. I know I have been tested for STDs when I was brought to hospital, but still it worried me. Or better, it bothered me that I didn´t know the person. It is sort of a relief.”

“I never stopped looking for you, Neal. I hope you realize that.”

“I know.” Neal said softly. Then he got that small smile back on his face.

“How was it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, being a dom?”

Peter´s cheeks started to flush.

“Why?”

“Well, I overheard Cindy talking about her new trainer. It had to be you.”

“What did she say?” Peter was curious, what had seen been telling about him.

“Well, that he was a natural. The best she had ever seen. That it came natural to him.”

“I don´t know what to say…” Peter´s skin color deepened.

“You like it.” was Neal´s conclusion.

“I must admit, I see the attraction.”

“There is nothing wrong with being a dom, Peter. What Cindy and Taylor did to me, has nothing to do with the scene. They enjoy torturing people. They are killers. I know that.”

Peter looked relieved that Neal could compartmentalize what had happened to him. So the therapy did work after all.

“We are good, really.” Neal said, taking Peter in a bear hug. “And who knows, If I need a dom, I know now who I can trust” Neal whispered in Peter´s ear.

When Neal let go of the hug, Peter eyed him with a questionable look.

“Do I understand this correct?”

“Well, yes you do, agent Burke.” Neal said with his eyes downcast.

“This is not induced by your kidnapping?”

“Nope, my last dom was Kate.” Neal admitted with a sad tone in his voice.

“So we are good?”

“Yes, Peter, we are. Just promise me to never stop looking for Cindy and Taylor and to protect your family.”

“I will. I promise. But you have to promise to work on getting better.”

“If you at least talk to a counselor yourself. I can see the guilt eating you up. We are good, but you still need to talk to someone, seriously.

“Deal.” Peter admitted.

 

* * *

 

Days passed and the Deputy Director had come over to the house to discuss the possibilities for the future. They all agreed that they couldn´t stay at June´s Vermont estate for the rest of their lives. They also didn´t expect the Marshalls to guard them forever, but they were also not ready to go into the Witness Protection program. When the Marshalls had suggested the option, Neal only had turned pale and had refused, he had downright refused and had left the room.

Peter had called Neal´s therapist the same day, to ask if he could come over before he had told everybody that they had to think about their future.

He had explained to El, that he couldn´t go into the Program, it would mean giving up being a FBI agent, it would mean that Neal would never see his grandparents, and he was just not ready to do that. El had been disappointed, she needed security for her family but could understand where Peter was coming from.

A week later, Peter was called by Jones with the news that Taylor had been apprehended. He had been caught trying to enter the United States via Canada. They had him in custody in Canada, but extradition would only be a formality. He was locked up in a high security facility. Peter told Neal and El the good news and told them they needed to talk. Peter needed to go back to work. How much he had loved to be able to spend so much time with his family, he was a FBI agent. He had a duty to perform. There would always be risks.

So that night, they talked and El and Peter decided to go back to their home in Brooklyn. An agent would be assigned to keep an eye on El and the baby while Peter was at the office.

Neal agreed it was time to go back. June had already called him to tell him he was more than welcome to stay in the house at Riverside Drive. She had the security system of the house upgraded but she herself would spend some more time with her family. Therefore Mozzie volunteered to stay with Neal when he realized he couldn´t convince Neal to fly off to some exotic island with him. Neal had asked Mozzie to be patient. Maybe he wanted to move back to Europe, but not now.

During the next therapy session, the therapist had explained to Neal that he would need a daytime activity and as he was no longer assigned to the FBI, he needed to find something to do. When they discussed this during dinner at the Burkes, Mozzie named a couple of possible activities, which only got him a glare from Peter.

 

In the end, Mozzie suggested it would be a good idea for Neal to work at the Greatest Cake. He could decorate cakes, it wasn´t forgery, but it was still creative, according to Mozzie. And from there Neal could see what he wanted to do with his life. It was close to the FBI building, so Peter would be close by if there was something. Neal reluctantly agreed, after having talked with his therapist, Peter and Mozzie.

They would be OK. They would be more OK, when Cindy would be behind bars. But for now, they needed to go on with their lives.

 

_The end?_


End file.
